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‘Lot of History.’ Fire Destroys Sierra Nevada Cabin Where California Measures Snowpack

/in , /by /The Sacramento Beeby Dale Kasler

Carol Pearson’s backyard in the Sierra Nevada has witnessed more than its share of California history: It’s been a cattle ranch, stagecoach stop and post office. The property, a peaceful meadow sitting at 6,820 feet elevation near Echo Summit, is also home to the state Department of Water Resources’ closely watched Sierra Nevada snowpack survey a monthly event that attracts hordes of reporters and photographers who tromp through the property on snowshoes.

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How NASA Is Taking The Guesswork Out Of Measuring California’s Snowpack

/in , /by /The Mercury News (San Jose)by Lisa M. Krieger

To better measure the water in our snow, California is sending sharper eyes up into the sky. Two sensors peer out from a turboprop aircraft, soaring from Mammoth Yosemite Airport over the white Sierra Nevada – collecting data that tells us almost exactly how much water we’ll have this summer. Last week’s findings: 1.1 million acre-feet, or 350 billion gallons of water in the mountain snow of Yosemite’s Tuolumne River basin, which flows into Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and provides water to major Central Valley irrigation districts, San Francisco and several other Bay Area communities.

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How An ‘Unripe Snowpack’ Will Impact Lake Tahoe This Summer

/in , /by /The San Francisco Gate by Amy Graff

For the third year in a row, Lake Tahoe is expected to fill. This is noteworthy for the sixth-largest lake in the United States that flirted with record-low levels amid a five-year drought that ended in 2017. Even more good news for the West’s water supply: Tahoe’s water level is likely to reach its peak late in the season as a robust snow pack slowly melts through summer, feeding the reservoir and the Truckee River continuously for months to come

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What The Latest Eastern Sierra Snowpack Measurement Means For The LA Aqueduct

/in , /by /NBC 4 Los Angelesby Jonathan Lloyd

The final snowpack measurement in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains showed levels well above average after winter’s unrelenting storms in California. The snowpack is an important measurement for water managers who determine how much water Southern California can expect to received from the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a system of channels and tunnels that stretches hundreds of miles from the eastern side of the 400-mile long Sierra Nevada Mountain range to Los Angeles. Snow in the mountains melts in spring, running off into the aqueduct and other water delivery systems around the state.  Based on the snowpack survey, the Los Angeles Aqueduct will flow at or near full capacity for much of the year.

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DWP Measures Snowpack At 171 Percent Of Normal

/in , /by /Sierra Wave (Bishop, Calif.)

On April 5, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) hydropgraphers performed the final snowpack survey for the season, which helps determine the amount of water available for Los Angeles’ water supply. This year, the snowpack measured at 171 percent of normal, which translates to a well above average year. In comparison, the snowpack registered at 66 percent of normal in 2018, a dry year, and 203 percent in 2017, the second wettest year on record. Snowpack measurements help determine how much water supply LADWP can expect from the LA Aqueduct and how much it will need to purchase from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD).

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Reservoirs Release More Water In Anticipation Of Snowpack

/in , /by /Calaveras Enterprise, (Calaveras, Calif.)by Davis Harper

Local reservoir managers are proactively releasing water at higher rates than usual in anticipation of increased inflows from heavy winter rains and snowstorms. The Central Sierra five station index has recorded 43 inches of rain since Oct. 1, the beginning of the water year – 129 percent of normal levels for April 1. The snowpack for the San Joaquin hydrologic region, which encompasses the northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley bordered by the Sierra Nevada on the east and coastal mountains of the Diablo Range on the west, is at 165 percent of its average with about 48 inches in snow water equivalent for this time of year, based on California Department of Water Resources data.

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‘A California Water Supply Dream’: Record Snowpack Measured In Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe Region

/in , , /by /Capital Public Radio (Sacramento)by Ezra David Romero

California received some good news on Tuesday for the state’s water supply: The Sierra Nevada snowpack is well above normal, at 162 percent of average. This amount of snow is thanks to the more than 30 “atmospheric rivers” that brought storms this winter and spring. Chris Orrock, with the California Department of Water Resources, says the cold storms have helped preserve the snow. “The snowpack is nice and cold. It’s a little different than 2017, where it was warmer winter … and [the snowpack] melted quicker,” Orrock said while reporting measurements at Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe. His crew found 106.5 inches of snow at the spot. As it melts and ends up in reservoirs, the snowpack provides about 30 percent of the state’s water supply, and water managers use the snowpack-measurement data to plan releases from the state’s reservoirs.

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California Wants To Aim Lasers At Snowpack To Better Predict Runoff

/in , /by /CBS Sacramento by Steve Large

Lawmakers are considering spending $150 million to fund new high-tech measurements of the snowpack using lasers. A pilot program with NASA has been in place for several years and results show lasers record snowpack measurements with near perfect accuracy. Up until now, California has measured the snowpack manually, with experts physically sinking a metal pole into the snow at various monitoring locations. Snow survey expert Frank Gehrke has been doing the manual measurements for thirty years and says the manual approach has resulted in measurements that are up to 60 percent incorrect.

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Colorado’s Epic Snowfall Helps Ease Drought Conditions, But State Not Out Of The Woods

/in , /by /The Denver Post by Jackson Barnett

With Colorado’s statewide snowpack totals nearing 150 percent of average, he and his crew of guides are eagerly awaiting the spring melt. Customers have noticed, too. Marquis already has seen a spike in summer bookings for his whitewater rafting trips. “As a business owner, I am very excited,” he said. Colorado has suffered from drought that has parched much of the state, hitting the Four Corners area especially hard, since late 2017.

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California’s Monster Snow Year … ‘It’s Been A Wild Ride’

/in , /by /KQED by Craig Miller

It’s been a big year for snow in the Sierra Nevada range. This is the time of year—April 1—when the snowpack is typically at its peak and on Tuesday, when surveyors do their monthly manual survey, they’re likely to find a snowpack at about 160 percent of the average. Mammoth Mountain, which soars to 11,000 feet in the central Sierra, has had 50 feet of snow pile onto its sweeping inclines. The nearby Mammoth ski resort tweeted that it had broken its snowfall record for February—and it was only two weeks into the month.

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