"The Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of nearly one-third of California's water supply, is looking a little like most people's New Year's resolutions: Full of hope and promise at the beginning of the month. But now struggling with a bothersome reality check. Starting on Christmas Eve, big storms dumped 7 to 8 feet of new snow across the Lake Tahoe area over a two-week period, ending a dry December and drenching the rest of the state with rain."
"First, the past three winters in California have been at or above average for precipitation - the first time in 25 years with such a three-in-a-row streak. Wet conditions ended the 2020-2022 drought and filled most of the large reservoirs in the state. And even though their levels dropped last summer as cities and farms used the water, California's reservoirs started this winter season more full than normal."
Beginning in late December, heavy storms dumped 7 to 8 feet of new snow around Lake Tahoe over a two-week span and brought widespread rain. By Jan. 6 the statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack measured about 93% of its historical average; after roughly three weeks of mostly sunny, warm weather and 23 consecutive days without a significant storm the snowpack declined to roughly 59% of average. Reservoirs entered the season fuller than normal after three consecutive wet winters, with Shasta rising 36 feet and Oroville rising 69 feet between mid-December and early January. Short-term forecasts show little significant precipitation, so snowpack percentages are likely to continue falling.
Read at The Mercury News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]