State water officials held their first manual snow survey of the year Tuesday at the Phillips Station snow course, one of more than 260 sites across the Sierra Nevada where the state tracks the snowpack. A series of atmospheric river storms has brought California heavy rains and above-average snowpack across the Sierra Nevada, but experts say the state still needs many more storms to begin to emerge from drought. The storms that have been rolling in fit with patterns that California has seen historically, said State Climatologist Michael Anderson.
She said that would include regaining soil moisture, refilling reservoirs and also recovering from years of declines in groundwater levels. Nearly 6 feet of snow had piled up as of Tuesday at the snow laboratory at Donner Pass. "It's definitely a very exciting start to the year and a very promising start to the year. Recent storms have boosted the snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, bringing a modest increase to the Colorado River. Words before a year crossword. But because the latest storm was warm, Schwartz said it brought more rain than snow. We'll need consecutive storms, month after month after month of above-average rain, snow and runoff to help really refill our reservoirs so that we can really start digging ourselves out of extreme drought, " said Sean de Guzman, manager of snow surveys for the Department of Water Resources. California snowpack is far above average amid January storms, but a lot more is needed.
"This year's snowpack is actually better than where we were last year. It's still early in the season. Southern California will continue to see heavy rainfall through the rest of the week, and likely into next, forecasters say. You can also find a list of all words with Y and words with H. How Dogs Bark and Cats Meow in Every Country. "The significant Sierra snowpack is good news, but unfortunately these same storms are bringing flooding to parts of California, " said Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources. Schwartz said pinpointing the effects of climate change on the latest storms would require attribution studies. Yr. before a.d. started crossword clue. "We're so far into drought that we're really going to need those multiple years to help pull us out at this point, " he said.
The biggest of last week's storms, on Friday and Saturday, was a large and warm atmospheric river, called a Pineapple Express, which dumped rain and snow across the mountains. State officials said the snowpack for this time of year is the third largest in the last 40 years, ranking behind 1983 and 2011. We must learn how to manage through these extremes, " said Deven Upadhyay, executive officer and assistant general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Stay tuned for more Repowering the West. More than 1, 400 dry household wells were reported to the state last year, many in farming areas in the Central Valley. Jones pointed out that groundwater levels in many areas are now much lower than they were 10 years ago. But we all know what could happen if the pattern turns dry, " De Guzman said.
"It's just a good winter storm. "Realistically, we're looking at needing several above-average years to come out of the drought, " Schwartz said. After three extremely dry years in California, the wet start to winter might signal a shift to wetter conditions. But he and other scientists say that recovering water supplies to a manageable level in the Colorado River's badly depleted reservoirs would take much longer, and that reversing the long-term declines in groundwater in California would also take many years, if aquifers are allowed to recover. Shasta Lake is at 34% of capacity, while Lake Oroville is 38% full. The next storm is expected to be colder and bring 2 to 3 feet more snow at the lab Wednesday and Thursday. The Sierra Nevada snowpack measures 174% of average for this time of year, but there are still three months left in the snow season, and the snow that has fallen to date remains just 64% of the April 1 average. "It could be a drought-buster of a year if things continue on a wet track, " said Dan McEvoy, regional climatologist at Western Regional Climate Center in Reno. Today's Wordle Answer for March 16, #635 - Daily Wordle Answer Updates & Hints. But we just need the storm train to keep coming through, " said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at UC Berkeley's Central Sierra Snow Laboratory. That snow can only go so far, however, in helping reservoirs that have been drained by years of overuse and a 23-year megadrought amplified by climate change.
keepcovidfree.net, 2024