The Mount Rose ski area, at 8,900 feet in the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe, had 116 inches of snow Tuesday, with almost 3 feet freshly fallen since the day before Christmas.
The UC Berkeley Central California Snow Lab at Donner Summit on Tuesday morning reported more than 8 inches of snow in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total for December to 202 inches, the third snowiest month on record since 1970.
The snowstorm that pounded the Sierra over the weekend sent crews racing to clear clotted roadways and restore electricity service to tens of thousands of households left in the dark after powerful winds sheared trees that toppled power lines.
Snow, snow, snow!
The folks at UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab have been tracking the fluffy white stuff and predict that Christmas will be the snowiest day of the week.
As the climate continues to warm, more and more of the snow falling on California’s mountains will be replaced by rain. Already in recent decades, the snow season has shrunk by a month, according to one estimate, while snow levels have moved upward by 1,200 feet, according to another.
Scientists and water managers say that at some point California’s snowpack could simply disappear. This would leave the state without the crucial spring and summer melt-off that fills rivers and streams, nourishes plants and animals, and provides a huge chunk of the water supply. It would also be devastating for the ski industry.
One of the standard tropes we hear from outsiders about Los Angeles is that it is located in a desert — a dry biome that cannot sustain our millions of people without importing water from somewhere (and someone) else.
And the standard retort from folks like us on the Los Angeles Times editorial board is that, no, it’s explicitly not a desert. To get to the desert, we have to leave town. The difference in climate, flora and terrain between L.A. and, say, Palm Springs or Las Vegas is profound. Deserts get less than 10 inches of rain a year. Las Vegas gets just over four. Los Angeles gets nearly 15.
We’re not a desert. We have a Mediterranean climate, like, say, the South of France. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.
The Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial water source for California’s cities and farms, has already dwindled to next to nothing this year, adding to the state’s worsening drought situation.
The latest data from the state Department of Water Resources on Tuesday showed California’s snowpack was just 6% of normal for May 11, and 4% of the normal average for April 1. That date is typically when California’s snowpack is the deepest and has the highest snow water equivalent — the depth of water that would result if the snow melted upon falling.
California is heading for a “critically dry year” as drought spreads across the American West, creating a slow-moving crisis for the Biden administration and state officials.
The Golden State’s annual survey of Sierra Nevada snowpack, upon which it relies for as much as a third of its water, was only 59% of normal, officials warned last week, underscoring that the state didn’t get the “March miracle” of rain and snow it had hoped for.
Good morning.
The weather forecast today calls for sunshine across the state, with barely a cloud on the horizon for the next week or so.
Pour yourself a nice, cool glass of water — and then think about how you’re going to start conserving it.
The lack of rain and snow during what is usually California’s wet season has shrunk the state’s water supply. The Sierra Nevada snowpack, a crucial source of water as it melts over the spring and summer, is currently at 65 percent of normal. Major reservoirs are also low.
As March begins to drag on with little precipitation in the forecast and few weeks left in California’s traditional wet season, we are in another dry year. This is California’s second dry year in a row since the 2012-2016 drought. Statistically, California has the most drought and flood years per average year than anywhere in the US. This statistical fact seems to becoming increasingly extreme, as predicted by many climate change models.
California shouldn’t wait another day to implement water conservation measures to counteract the likelihood of drought this year. The state Department of Water Resources reported Tuesday that the Sierra Nevada snowpack was just 61% of it historical average for this date. “Absent a series of strong storms in March or April, we are going to end with a critically dry year on the heels of last year’s dry conditions,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the state DWR.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
