The 2017 flooding in San Jose, California in a historical context¶
Flooding at Coyote Creek in Hellyer County Park, San Jose, CA. Jan 22, 2017.
Floodwater overtopping the spillway at Anderson Dam, Morgan Hill, CA. Feb 19, 2017.
San Jose is a city of over one million people and is the third-largest city in California. The climate is Mediterranean with significant interannual variation in precipitation. Nearly all precipitation falls as rain between October and May (Wikipedia).
Daily mean discharge for U.S. Geological Survey stream gauge 11170000 in Madrone, CA (near south San Jose, CA) on the Coyote River (also known as Coyote Creek). The units of the data are cubic feet per second (cfs). No value for missing data.
Citation
Discharge (Mean) 1928-10-01 to 2022-09-30 for USGS 11170000 COYOTE C NR MADRONE CA, National Water Information System, United States Geological Survey, https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/inventory?site_no=11170000. Accessed September 19, 2023.
Significant flooding occurred in San Jose in 1938. However, due to discontinuities in data at this stream gauge, it is not possible to compare the 2017 flood to historical floods in the same location on the river.
We can see, however that substantial flooding has occurred in the past at this stream gauge.