State Department official say California ’s snowpack is the highest it ’s been in decades for early February , theLos Angeles Times reported .
The California Department of Water Resources conducted the second manual snowpack survey of 2023 yesterday at Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe . Officials get hold 85.5 inches of snow depth . That ’s 193 % above norm for the coke depth for the location for this clip of year , according to astatement from the Department . Last calendar month , Water Resources officialsfound 55.5 inches of snowdepth .
The telling pileup of snow is thanks toa series of atmospheric rivers , which from late December to mid - January broughtone winter stormafter anotherto thearid state . The abundance of snow is a hopeful sign for allay drought , as about 30 % of the state ’s water needs amount from the snowpack , according to the Department of Water Resources . As all that snowfall thaw , it fills nearby river , lakes , and reservoirs .
Department of Water Resources employees measure snow depth at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Feb 1, 2023Photo: Kenneth James / California Department of Water Resources (Fair Use)
However , officials have warned that just because there ’s a pile of C. P. Snow now , it does n’t mean it will stick around by the last snowpack survey at the end of winter . February and March could see more hastiness , or they may not . Some worry that this new month is going to be dry , which could cancel some of the recent snowpack gains , functionary say theAssociated Press .
“ California has always experienced some degree of swings between wet and dry , but the retiring few month have manifest how much more extreme those swings are becoming , ” Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth said in an online statement . “ California is groom for more intense and dangerous climate swings by bolster both drouth and flowage preparation . While today ’s results are upright intelligence for weewee supplies , we know from experience how quickly snowpack can disappear if ironical weather condition return in the months ahead . ”
The onslaught of precipitation last month took Central and Southern California out of exceptional and extreme drought conditions , the worst drouth levels . As of former January , most of the State Department is experience knockout and temperate drouth condition , harmonise to theU.S. Drought Monitor . This does n’t mean that uttermost drought wo n’t come back . In December 2021 , a storm dropped about17 foot of snowover the Sierra Nevada raft . But by March 2022 , there were only 2.5 inch of snow near the Phillips Station , when the snow depth is usually around5 infantry .
The next snowpack survey is scheduled for March 1 .
AvalancheCalifornia droughtPrecipitationWaterWater iceWeatherWinter storm
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