Are Recent California Mountain Snowstorms Another False Hope Against Drought?

Traffic cam for a highway in the Sierra Nevada mountains 
from this past Saturday shows plenty of snow. Will
the storms continue through the rest of the winter?
Californians surely hope so.

That winter storm that has been blustering its way across the nation this week -and promising snow here in Vermont - has had a happy impact on the first state it hit. 

Much to most Californians' delight, it's been snowing like crazy up in the Sierra Nevada mountains over the past few weeks.  In just the last storm a few days ago, up to six feet of snow fell in these mountains. 

The snow pack up there is now as much as 253 percent of normal for this time of year. Feet of snow has fallen in many areas in that high terrain. 

A nice Sierra snowpack is critical for California's water needs. That snow melts, hopefully in the spring and summer and not in the winter, supplying reservoirs with needed water in the dry summer. Since California has been in varying levels of drought for at least a decade, this is more important than ever.

Or course, it's early in the season. Even with the healthy winter storms they've had over the past couple of weeks,  the Sierra Nevada is well below the level the mountains reach their peak snow pack, around April Fool's Day.  As the Washington Post reports, it's useful to use a football analogy here. 

"Andrew Schwartz, lead research scientist at the (Central Sierra Snow Lab) said that while these numbers are very good news, averages can be deceptive this early in the season.

'We've scored a touchdown in the first quarter of the game, but we still have three quarters to go,' he said. 'If we get to March and April and we're still well above average for the time of year, then it's time to celebrate.'"

The snowpack in California as of December 5 was 24 percent of the April 1 average, so you see the state needs quite a few more storms through the winter. Virtually all of California is still in drought, despite the recent storms. They really need the snow train to continue. 

If the Pacific storm machine shuts off, and it gets warmer, some of the snow will melt, and California could see some backsliding'

That's what happened last year. 

Huge December storms left the snow pack in the Sierras as much as 160 percent of average.  Then, January and February, 2022 were the driest on record. By that important April 1 date, the snow pack was at just 38 percent of normal. 

For now, it looks the last storm that went through California, the one that crossed the nation this week, is going to be the last one for awhile.  Long range forecasts suggest that little or no rain and snow will fall in or near California through the end of the month. 

Of course, we don't know what will happen during California's peak storm season, January and February. Everybody hopes it's not a repeat of last winter.