Current:Home > ScamsIs California’s Drought Returning? Snowpack Nears 2015’s Historic Lows-LoTradeCoin
Is California’s Drought Returning? Snowpack Nears 2015’s Historic Lows
View Date:2025-01-11 09:24:11
Stay informed about the latest climate, energy and environmental justice news by email. Sign up for the ICN newsletter.
The snowpack that’s essential for California’s water supply is at critically low levels again this year—approaching the historic lows of the state’s prolonged drought, which officially ended in 2016.
On Thursday, researchers from the state’s Department of Water Resources headed into the Sierra Nevada to measure water content and snow levels at the Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe. The annual event, while something of photo op, is an opportunity to alert California residents if they’ll need to conserve water in the coming months.
“This year it’s going to be pretty stark,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA. “There’s not going to be a lot of snow on the ground.”
Frank Gehrke, chief of the state water survey, measured the snow depth at Phillips at 13.6 inches, with 2.6 inches of water content—about 14 percent of the average. Overall, snowpack in the Sierras—which provides roughly a third of the state’s water supply—is at 27 percent of normal for February 1.
Historically, the state’s April 1 number, when the snow season is over, has been used as the key metric for the year. Toward the end of the 2011-2016 drought, the snowpack on April 1, 2015, was at 5 percent. The previous low had been 25 percent.
“We’re on that track,” Swain said. “Right now, we’re essentially tied with 2014-15, so we’re really at the bottom of the barrel.”
No Water Warnings—Yet
On April 1, 2015, Gov. Jerry Brown stood on bare ground at the Phillips Station and declared that the state’s urbanites would have to drastically cut their water use. Whether he will make the same declaration this year is not yet clear.
“Some people are trying to draw a parallel to 2015, but we’re not saying a drought is on the way,” said Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the water division. “We’re just saying we have disappointing snowpack readings, as well as disappointing precipitation.”
Roughly half of the state’s precipitation falls from December through February. So far, there’s been little precipitation in parts of the state, and the forecast is showing little relief and calling for higher temperatures.
“The pattern that’s in place right now is a really stable one, and unfortunately it’s going to bring record warmth to northern California,” Swain said. “The snowpack will actually start to decrease.”
Dry Forests Add to Wildfire Risk
The good news for people in the cities and suburbs is that the state’s reservoirs remain in pretty good shape, thanks to a wet winter a year ago. But for the state’s forests and natural landscapes—and for certain counties—that’s of little help.
Santa Barbara and Ventura counties are not tied into the reservoir system, and in December those counties experienced the state’s largest wildfire on record, fueled by tinder-dry vegetation. October and November set heat records in Southern California.
“If you’re a tree in the forest, you don’t care about how much water is in the reservoirs,” Swain said. “By time the summer rolls around, there’s less soil moisture, and that means more stress. The reservoirs are good news for the cities, but less good news for the forests. And what happens next year?”
The situation looks just as worrisome across much of the West. At the beginning of the year, the snowpack was unusually low across swaths of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona.
Michelle Mead of the National Weather Service said Thursday at California’s Phillips Station that she was optimistic the winter could still provide badly needed snow, and that more “atmospheric rivers”—carrying rain from the tropics—may still be on the way.
“California’s weather is very, very variable,” Mead said. “The state, as a whole, has had two atmospheric rivers and we average five. We still have half a winter to go.”
veryGood! (7298)
Related
- Agents search home of ex-lieutenant facing scrutiny as police probe leak of school shooting evidence
- Steelers' Diontae Johnson rips refs after loss to Jaguars: 'They cost us the game'
- Gun deaths are rising in Wisconsin. We take a look at why.
- These Revelations from Matthew Perry's Memoir Provided a Look Inside His Private Struggle
- Jack Del Rio leaving Wisconsin’s staff after arrest on charge of operating vehicle while intoxicated
- Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki writes about her years in government in ‘Say More’
- 'SNL' mocks Joe Biden in Halloween-themed opening sketch: 'My closest friends are ghosts'
- Goldie Hawn Says Aliens Touched Her Face During Out of This World Encounter
- Georgia House Republicans stick with leadership team for the next two years
- Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $349 Crossbody Bag for Just $75
Ranking
- Jason Kelce collaborates with Stevie Nicks for Christmas duet: Hear the song
- Tributes pour in following death of Friends star Matthew Perry: What a loss. The world will miss you.
- Oil prices could reach ‘uncharted waters’ if the Israel-Hamas war escalates, the World Bank says
- Illinois man to appear in court on hate crime and murder charges in attack on Muslim mother and son
- Kate Spade Outlet’s Early Black Friday Sale – Get a $259 Bag for $59 & More Epic Deals Starting at $25
- Mass shootings over Halloween weekend leave at least 11 dead across US
- Hurricane Otis kills at least 27 people in Mexico, authorities say
- A British man is extradited to Germany and indicted over a brutal killing nearly 45 years ago
Recommendation
-
Travis Kelce's and Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Houses Burglarized
-
Israel opens new phase in war against Hamas, Netanyahu says, as Gaza ground operation expands
-
Authorities say Puerto Rico policeman suspected in slaying of elderly couple has killed himself
-
Suspect detained in an explosion that killed 3 people at a Jehovah’s Witness gathering in India
-
Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly are expecting their first child together
-
Climb aboard four fishing boats with us to see how America's warming waters are changing
-
Steelers' Diontae Johnson rips refs after loss to Jaguars: 'They cost us the game'
-
Crews battle brush fires in Southern California sparked by winds, red flag warnings issued