Recent storms brought much-needed snowfall to the Sierra Nevada after a dry winter. However, temperatures are rising above freezing, melting snow at lower elevations.
Anne Heggli with the Desert Research Institute has been monitoring the snowpack in the higher elevations. She said that
Snowfall in mid-February brought the levels close to average, she said. But it’s still far from what’s needed to provide water for the summer months.
With the current warm temperatures, there’s an increased potential for melting snow in the middle of winter, Heggli said.
“These spring-like conditions and precipitation falling as rain are not really boosting the snowpack the way that we would hope or the way that we need when we get precipitation falling as snow,” she said.
Precipitation falling as rain and not as snow further increases the rate at which snow melts. She also said that many of the national water and climate stations across the Sierra reported record-breaking amounts of decreased snowpack as a result of the warmer temperatures.
| For example, on February 26, there was a record snow melt measured in SNOTEL sites across the Sierra, according to information sent by the National Water and Climate Center, she said. |
“While it also showed minor flooding in the Portola area, there was no potential for flooding in the Reno-Tahoe area,” she said.
Heggli said that they’re keeping a close eye on the melt, not because of the risk for flooding, but rather the levels of the snowpack that are needed to supply water during the summer months.
