#snow pack

In California, April 1st is considered the peak of the snow year. After April 1st, the snowpack typically begins to diminish. Of course there can be late season snowstorms but as the weather begins to warm and the days lengthen, the snow will begin to melt.

Here is another perspective on the snowpack in Northern California and the Southern Oregon Cascades. As the image snows, much of the region is 'Much Above Normal'.

Every year crews from the North Coast & Cascades Inventory & Monitoring Network track glacier health at Mount Rainier. In the spring, crews visit Nisqually and Emmons glaciers to measure how much new snow has accumulated on the glacier surface during the winter. Snow depth and density measurements determine how much water is held in that snowpack (snow water equivalent). Measurement rods are also installed to track snow and ice melt over the coming summer. This allows us to track accumulation (snow that becomes added ice) and melt (lost ice) over the long term.

NPS/S.Hagen Photo: Glacier monitoring lead smiles at the success of the spring glacier trip on the lower Nisqually, 4/22/24.

In the short term, the snow depth measurements, along with data contributed from climate stations, can help us anticipate melt water availability in the summer.

Graph of SWE at two locations on the Nisqually Glacier during drought years compared to average.

Results of the snow water equivalent (SWE), or how much water would result if all the snow melted, at two different elevations on the Nisqually Glacier are displayed in the graph. Notably, the results from a 4/22/24 survey on the Nisqually Glacier are below the average. In 2024, SWE at these elevations is higher than the drought year of 2005 but below the drought year of 2015 at both elevations.

Excerpt from this story from The Hill:

Water resources will become more difficult to predict in the Northern Hemisphere’s snow-dominated regions later this century due to the impacts of climate change, a new study has found.

As snow accumulation recedes and fails to generate reliable runoff, the amount and timing of water resources in areas such as the Rocky Mountains will increasingly depend on rainfall, according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday.

And even in regions that continue to receive the same amount of precipitation, streamflow will become more variable and erratic, the authors determined.

“Water managers will be at the whim of individual precipitation events instead of having four-to-six months lead time to anticipate snowmelt and runoff,” lead author William Wieder, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said in a statement.

“Water management systems in snow-dominated regions are based on the predictability of snowpack and runoff, and much of that predictability could go away with climate change,” Wieder added.

Snowpack — the layers of packed snow that typically melt and trickle down mountains during warmer months — is melting earlier than usual and is even declining in some regions, the authors noted.

Did we all just forget that CAITLIN'S MOM IS A META!?

Ater being kidnapped by Icicle and getting Thomas back only to lose him again, Caitlin and Carla finally start getting closer:

“Mom, do you mabye want to go get an drink? You can tell me more about elements you invented.”

“Actually now would be perfect.”