Current:Home > reviewsIs California’s Drought Returning? Snowpack Nears 2015’s Historic Lows-VaTradeCoin
Is California’s Drought Returning? Snowpack Nears 2015’s Historic Lows
View Date:2025-01-19 03:21:04
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! (78586)
Related
- Wisconsin agency issues first round of permits for Enbridge Line 5 reroute around reservation
- 42 Celebrity-Approved Father's Day Gift Ideas from Tom Brady, John Legend, Derek Jeter & More
- 'Organic' fruit, veggie snacks for kids have high levels of lead, Consumer Reports finds
- Boeing Starliner reaches International Space Station: Here's what the astronauts will do
- Report: Jaguars' Trevor Lawrence could miss rest of season with shoulder injury
- Who threw the 10 fastest pitches in MLB history?
- California Oil Town Chose a Firm with Oil Industry Ties to Review Impacts of an Unprecedented 20-Year Drilling Permit Extension
- Top baby names 2024: Solar eclipse, women athletes inspire parents, Baby Center data shows
- 1 million migrants in the US rely on temporary protections that Trump could target
- Get Starbucks delivered: Coffee giant announces new partnership with GrubHub
Ranking
- Texas mother sentenced to 50 years for leaving kids in dire conditions as son’s body decomposed
- The Bachelorette's Rachel Lindsay Shares Why She Regrets Not Having Prenup With Ex Bryan Abasolo
- 17-year-old boy student in Seattle high school parking lot, authorities say
- The Best Father’s Day Gifts for Girl Dads That’ll Melt His Heart
- Taylor Swift's Mom Andrea Gives Sweet Nod to Travis Kelce at Chiefs Game
- Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan Uses This $5 Beauty Treatment for De-Puffing
- Is it OK to come out in your 30s? Dakota Johnson's new movie shows 'there is no timeline'
- Alabama sheriff evacuates jail, citing unspecified ‘health and safety issues’
Recommendation
-
The Daily Money: All about 'Doge.'
-
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg honor 80th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy
-
Kids coming of age with social media offer sage advice for their younger peers
-
Michigan man from viral court hearing 'never had a license,' judge says. A timeline of the case
-
Sister Wives' Janelle Brown Details to Meri Why She Can't Trust Ex Kody and His Sole Wife Robyn
-
TikToker Melanie Wilking Reacts After Sister Miranda Derrick Calls Out Netflix's Cult Docuseries
-
A Proposed Nevada Lithium Mine Could Destroy Critical Habitat for an Endangered Wildflower Found Nowhere Else in the World
-
North Carolina driver’s license backlog may soon end, DMV commissioner says