The Sierra snowpack continues to melt away under the influence of an increasingly dry winter, with a storm expected later this week likely to bring only a temporary reprieve.
After a bountiful December layered the mountains in nearly twice-normal amounts of snow, January — one of the most important months for building the snowpack — was nearly entirely dry, with February starting out much the same.
On Monday, the Truckee River Basin’s snowpack was measured at 102 percent of average for the date, down from the 192 percent that existed Jan. 1. The Lake Tahoe Basin’s snowpack is now below average at 89 percent.
“We just got skunked last month. It was pretty sad,” said Dan Greenlee, the Reno-based snow surveyor for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
January was remarkably cold but very dry, with only 10 to 15 percent of average precipitation, Greenlee said. It was the exact opposite of December, which offered up a strong start to the winter of 2012-2013 and for the snowpack that provides the bulk of the region’s water.
Full Article: http://www.rgj.com/article/20130204/NEWS15/302040047/Recent-dry-weather-melts-Sierra-snowpack-near-average-levels
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