Snow

California Hits Record Snowpack Depth in Southern Sierra Nevada

March 26, 2023 by Joel B. Pollak Leave a Comment

The total snowpack this winter for California’s southern Sierra Nevada mountain range has hit 286% of normal — the highest since records began.

The Los Angeles Times noted:

As of Friday, the snowpack in the southern Sierra Nevada was at 286% of normal — the highest figure ever, easily eclipsing the region’s benchmark of 263% set in 1969.
…
Statewide, the snowpack is at 228% of normal, hovering near the record level set in the April 1 survey of 1952, 237% of average. The level during the annual April 1 snow survey in 1983 was 227%.

According to the University of California Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, the 2022-2023 has been the second-snowiest on record — and it could surpass the record mark set in 1952, with more snow on the way in an upcoming “atmospheric river” that will be the season’s 13th.

With 7.7″ (19.5 cm) of #snow over the last day, ’22/’23 has passed ’82/’83 as the 2nd snowiest season (Oct 1 – Sept 30) since the CSSL was built in 1946! We now have a season total of 677″ (56.4 feet, 17.2 m).
Still far from #1 but we’ll get closer over the next week. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/M0thTCxZuI
— UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab (@UCB_CSSL) March 20, 2023

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on a windy, snowy weather system that is developing over the Pacific:

Two low-pressure systems off the coast of Hawaii and Alaska will quickly merge into a storm around Sunday, heading toward the West Coast by Monday morning. Weather models forecast that it will then tap into the atmospheric moisture between Hawaii and California — a.k.a. the Pineapple Express — and undergo rapid intensification. The stage is set for another strong March storm that’s expected to bring powerful winds, rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms to the Bay Area.

That rain will hit the Sierra Nevada as snow — adding to massive totals at ski resorts, building up the state’s water supply — but also creating a risk of spring flooding.

For now, there is joy throughout the state as Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) increased water allocations to local water agencies to 75% of those requested — a sharp increase from the 5% he announced at the start of the winter.

Back then, weather forecasters were predicting a third straight dry winter, as La Niña patterns remained in force, and the state was stuck in a crippling drought. But an early November storm was followed by heavy rains from Christmas into the New Year — and the storms have barely let up since.

Newsom raised the allocation to 35%, and now to 75%, amid criticism that he has not expanded the state’s ability to store water in reservoirs.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Global Warming: Ice Sheet on Lake Tahoe Bay

March 17, 2023 by Joel B. Pollak Leave a Comment

A rare ice sheet has formed on Emerald Bay, California, on Lake Tahoe, the first time it has been seen in over 30 years — and a sign of the cold weather in the Sierra Nevada in a season normally linked to the spring thaw.

For the first time since the early 1990s, Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay has completely frozen over. https://t.co/6E8nU3FTYJ
— SFGATE (@SFGate) March 10, 2023

The New York Times reported:

In March, the birds usually begin appearing in Emerald Bay, Calif., as the days get longer and the temperature creeps up, melting the snow that feeds the creeks — the first tantalizing signs of spring. But this month, the bay, on the western shores of Lake Tahoe, has instead been frigid, stark and silent.
In fact, it froze over.
It may be the first time in three decades that the bay has frozen to this extent, according to California State Parks. The last time appears to have been in the early 1990s, said Kaytlen Jackson, who works in communications for the department and who, last week, ventured down the snow-covered slopes to get to the inlet’s edge.

Read the full article here.

As Breitbart News has reported, Lake Tahoe and other mountainous regions in California have seen snowfalls since December that have come close to smashing local records.

Lake Tahoe without the ice. (Wikimedia Commons)

An apartment building in a nearby community was evacuated after snowdrifts swallowed two of the structure’s three stories; meanwhile, homeowners have desperately tried to push snow off rooftops that were being crushed by the weight of accumulated snow and ice.

More snow is on the way early next week, with the season’s twelfth “atmospheric river” expected to bring moist air from the Central Pacific, dumping rain at lower elevations and bringing snow to California’s mountains.