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Intense Winter Storm Brings a Rare Wondrous Landscape to Parts of California

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Monday, Feb. 27.I’m Ryan Fonseca, back from vacation.

For many Californians, a day in the snow means a hours-long trek up to the mountains. But this weekend, the winter staple made house calls in neighborhoods that haven’t seen snow in decades.

Frigid Storm to Slam California: Blizzard Warning for Local Mountains, Snow at Low Elevations

A powerful storm is expected to sweep across California this week, bringing cold temperatures, cutting winds and snowfall at remarkably low elevations nearly statewide.

“This is shaping up to be a very unusual event,” UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said in a virtual briefing Tuesday morning. “We are going to see low [elevation] snow all the way from the Oregon border to the Mexican border — it’s just a question of how low.”

Bay Area Likely to See Snow on the Hills This Week From Unusual Winter Storm, Forecasters Say

When Bay Area residents wake up later this week and get a look outside, they might wonder if they’ve been transported many degrees north, with snow from an unusually cold and windy winter storm possibly carpeting the region’s major peaks and even reaching hills as low as 1,000 feet.

Sierra Nevada Snowpack Hits Biggest Level in Nearly 30 Years

The statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack — the source of nearly one-third of California’s water supply — is at its highest level since 1995, boosting hopes that an end to the drought is near, but also raising concerns that a few warm spring storms could melt it too early and trigger major flooding.

Not since Toy Story packed movie theaters, Steve Young led the 49ers to their fifth Super Bowl win, and gasoline cost $1.28 a gallon has there been so much snow in California’s most famous mountain range at the end of January.

All the Rain and Snow in California May Result in a Big Year for Hydro — and That’s Good News for the Grid

Torrential rain across California in recent weeks has caused plenty of misery, but it could also generate some good news on the energy front: If rain and snow totals hold up, all the precipitation will boost hydroelectric production — and that would help the Golden State’s electric grid, especially in the summertime when the system comes under strain.

“Based on the reservoir levels and what we’re seeing this year, we expect to have more hydroelectricity generated this year than we have for the last several years,” said Lindsay Buckley, director of communications at the California Energy Commission.