#snowpack

Fear and Photography in Lassen Volcanic National Park

Exploring the Beauty of a Lesser-Visited National Park

The last patches of snowpack remain in the Painted Dunes of Lassen Volcanic National Park

(© Kevin D. Jordan)

Excerpt from this story from The Mercury News:

Obliterated by record hot temperatures in March, the statewide Sierra Nevada snowpack, the source of one-third of California’s water supply, stood at only 18% of its historical average on Wednesday, the second-lowest April 1 reading in recorded history.

Still, water managers said Wednesday that the state won’t face drought conditions and water shortages unless next winter ends on a similarly dry note a year from now.

“We’re not in a hydrologic drought,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources at a news conference at Phillips Station, a 6,800-foot Sierra Nevada meadow showing only sparse patches of snow. “But the supplies we have are all we have. What we save today will be a very important hedge against a dry next year.”

The snowpack on April 1 has been lower only once in modern records, which started in 1950. That was in 2015, when snow levels were at an abysmal 5% of normal. That year, former Gov. Jerry Brown stood in the same meadow where measurements are normally taken — bare of the 5 feet of snow that would blanket the area near Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort at the end of most winters — and announced sweeping statewide water restrictions.

Back then, however, California was struggling through its third dry winter in a row. This year, the state has enjoyed three wet winters in a row, leaving reservoirs nearly full.

Scientists have predicted for years that the warming climate means the Sierra’s snowpack will melt earlier in many years than it has in decades past. This year, the big melt means higher fire risk in the Sierra over the summer and a strain on water resources, because as farms and cities draw down reservoirs, there won’t be melting snow to top them up in the months ahead.

"A parade of atmospheric river-fueled winter storms in California and other western states has erased the most extreme drought conditions for the first time since 2020 and more water is on the way, forecasters predict.

The U.S. Drought Monitor's latest conditions report shows no part of California is in the Extreme or Exceptional Drought designations that blanketed most of the state last summer. 

Most of the central portion of the state is completely free of drought conditions from the latest readings on March 14. Parts of Northern and Southern California are still showing Abnormally Dry or Moderate Drought on the scale, while Moderate Drought conditions are still in place in parts of Siskiyou, Lassen, Modoc, Inyo and San Bernardino counties .

Record snowfall and rain have helped to loosen drought's grip on parts of the western U.S. as national forecasters and climate experts warned Thursday that some areas should expect more flooding as the snow begins to melt...

Jon Gottschalck, chief of the operational prediction branch at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, said the start of the fire season in the Southwestern U.S. likely will be delayed."

-via CBS News, 3/16/23

And an update from 3/30/23

50% of California is now out of drought completely!

Couldn't find an article about this that didn't have a picture of drastic flooding, rip.

"Drought conditions across California continue to retreat thanks to heavy rain and historic snowfall that has battered the Golden State since late last year.

Data from the U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday shows that more than 50% of California is free of any drought classification for the first time since February 2020...

In November, virtually all of California’s Central Valley was deemed to be in an “exceptional drought,” the U.S. Drought Monitor’s worst classification.

As of [March 30th], California’s entire coastline was drought-free and only a small section of the Central Valley was considered “abnormally dry.” More significant drought conditions still exist in the northeastern and southeastern areas of the state...

California’s Sierra Nevada mountains are seeing record snowpack that will eventually melt and fill the state’s reservoirs. On Wednesday, Mammoth Mountain ski resort announced it had set a new all-time snowfall record."

Frozen confluence

Mountain lakes are unique ecosystems whose physical, chemical, and biological properties can vary year to year depending on spring snowpack and ice cover. Mount Rainier, Olympic, and North Cascade National Parks contain over 1,200 mountain lakes and ponds at elevations over 3,200 feet (1000 m). Between 2007 and 2018, scientists monitored conditions in mountain lakes in both above average snow years (2011-2012) and in historical minimum snow years (2015). During years with less snow, lakes become ice-free earlier and have warmer summer water temperatures, giving rise to other ecosystem changes linked to temperature such as lower dissolved oxygen, higher total dissolved nitrogen, higher chlorophyll, and higher abundance of cladoceran zooplankton. Conversely, in years with higher snowpack and a shorter ice-free season, lakes were colder and clearer with more dilute ions as well as lower algal biomass and zooplankton abundance. By looking at a variety of snowpack values, scientists are able to address questions about how climate effects mountain lakes and foretell future conditions in Mount Rainier and other Pacific Northwest parks.

Learn more about this research in “Summer ecosystem structure in mountain lakes linked to interannual variability of lake ice, snowpack, and landscape attributes” published in Limnology and Oceanography, available online at https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lno.12188.

Additional reports about Mount Rainier National Park water quality available at https://go.nps.gov/1tprha.