A winter of record snowfall in California, coupled with a triple-digit heat wave, is continuing to inundate Sierra trails and fill valley reservoirs with snowmelt run-off.
In a video posted on social media by a KCRA 3 viewer, ankle-deep water could be seen rushing over the rail to Wapama Falls in Yosemite National Park last week.
The Lake Tahoe region has been put on flood watch this coming weekend as unseasonably warm weather melts the Sierra Nevada’s almighty snowpack.
“Creeks and streams will be running high fast,” the National Weather Service warned. “Low-water crossings may be flooded.”
The winter that wouldn’t quit showed up again in the Sierra Nevada region of California and Nevada on Tuesday.
The fast-moving, blustery storm wasn’t expected to last long, but it was enough to require chain controls on some trans-Sierra highways and add to staggering snowfall totals left by an exceptional series of winter storms.
On Monday, California water officials slogged through deep snow 7,000 feet above sea level, west of Lake Tahoe, to affirm what everyone already knew: A series of Pacific storms has generated record-level amounts of precipitation, filling reservoirs, inundating low-lying towns and fields and threatening more disastrous flooding as the Sierra snowpack melts.
Its negative aspects aside, the immense amount of rain and snow is welcome relief from drought that has plagued the state for the past three years.
No one really knows how much snow fell on the infamous Donner Party when the pioneers were trapped atop the Sierra Nevada for months and dozens died near Lake Tahoe in the winter of 1846-47.
But this season has now etched its way into the history books as the second snowiest in the 77 years of record-keeping at the Central Sierra Snow Lab — more than 56.4 feet (677 inches, 17.2 meters) with no end in sight.
Glacial temperatures, battering rainfall and historic levels of snow are complicating conditions at ski resorts around Lake Tahoe, leaving crews to work around the clock to dig out chairlifts — usually suspended high above the slopes — that are now buried in snow.
As the new year begins, California’s Sierra is closing in on the second-largest snowpack we’ve seen at this time of year in the last two decades, with more snow expected to pummel the mountain range in the coming days. But here’s why it’s far too soon to declare an end to the drought: Last year, we started 2022 with a similar bounty — and then ended the snow season way, way, way below normal.
Between the Winter Olympics and our dry January, I’ve been thinking a lot about snow over the last few weeks. Last month, Reno saw no measurable precipitation for the first time since such records were kept. The dry streak has continued past January. And although there have been longer periods of dryness in the region, it’s enough to be noticeable, matched with warm temperatures that make it feel more like spring than winter.
Maybe it’s the weather whiplash that makes it feel especially noticeable. The water year started out strong.
The California Department of Water Resources conducted the first Phillips Station snow survey of the season on Thursday, Dec 30 after the basin received over 200 inches of snow, and will potentially see more in the coming week.
A series of storms have made for an exceptionally rainy and snowy start to California’s winter season, pushing snowpack and precipitation well above 150% of normal for this time of year and bringing a welcome influx of moisture amid an ongoing drought.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
