![]() Noah Molotch, a hydrology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, said that California usually sees about 80 inches of this accumulated snow over the entire winter, ending on April 1, when the snowpack reaches its maximum depth before melting. Not all of this snow will stick around, but what does is collectively known as snowpack. The bulk of snowfall this year has been in the southern Sierra Nevada where some locations have already seen up to 480 inches." "At the Central Sierra Snow Lab, we receive 360 inches (30 feet) of snow during an average winter and we're above average already this year with 389 inches so far. "This year's snowpack is looking quite good with California being 140 percent of our April 1st average, which is the most important metric because it tells us how much water we'll have for the year. The weekend's storm comes after an already good year for snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Schwartz said. Snowpack this year is already above the seasonal average. Invested into developing a snow scale, a load-cell based device.Photo showing thick snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. These devices have proven to be hard to transportĪnd harmful to the environment due to the amount of antifreeze necessary and thus the DWR has recently Measurement as snow compresses onto the snow pillow. Metal encasement filled with antifreeze that utilizes a pressure transducer and will output a pressure Due to time constraints, the DWR has developed snow pillows. ![]() This requires members of the DWR to migrate to each snow location to take an in person The first, most reliable, but time intensive method, Measuring systems to determine the amount of SWE. Currently, the DWR utilizes three different The state government uses the measurements of SWE provided by the DWR to issue flood warningsĪs well as to monitor that amount of fresh water supply. Present in California since 1940, and is conducted by the California Department of Water Resources or Measurement of the amount of water contained in a snow pack. Previous scale designs and extensive research into snow mechanics. Validation of a new iteration of snow scale developed based on This project, in cooperation with the University of California, Davis, focuses the design and The firstĪttempts to study this vital resource got underway right here in the Lake TahoeDonner Summit region.Ĭalifornia Department of Water Resources (DWR) Snow Scale Melts it supplies more than half of the Golden State’s total water supply. Not because of the popularity of winter sports. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is California’s most valuable natural resource, and Snow lab to study flood forecasting and stream gauging."ĭonner Summit Historical Society: History of Central Sierra Snow Laboratory at Soda Springs, California "We've even had scientists from China visit our "The rest of the world looks to California to see how it manages its water resources," Is roughly equal to below the 40-year median. Snowfall to Donner Summit, the cumulative amount of winter snow as of Jan. Or even the last century? While early November in 2020 brought higher-than-normal How does this winter’s snowfall compare to last year, or the last decade, Moonshine Ink: The Saga of the Snow Lab's Data There was, however, a catch that complicated my transition to the new lead of the lab’s daily operations: I was living in Australia. By January 2021, the hard work of the lab’s director, professor Rob Rhew, had saved the lab and I was appointed as the new manager to lead it into the future. The previous manager had retired, Berkeley was considering eliminating its funding, and the Covid-19 pandemic was preventing the hire of a new manager. Still, in the heaviest of winters, the snow drifts are deep enough to bury the front door, so the only way into the building is through a window on the top floor.įor the first time in its 73-year existence, UC Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab in December 2019 was without a single full-time employee. The structure is three stories tall, including the basement. But hardly anyone knows it exists.Īt the top of Donner Summit, an old cabin rests in a thicket of tall trees. SFGATE: This obscure laboratory holds the answers to California’s water future. ![]()
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