Thin Snowpack in West Signals Summer of Fire and Drought

[phantom power]

My father-in-law likes to say, "you can hope in one hand, and piss in the other, and see which one fills up first"

DENVER — After enduring last summer’s destructive drought, farmers, ranchers and officials across the country’s parched heartland had hoped that plentiful winter snows would replenish the ground and refill their rivers, breaking the grip of one of the worst dry spells in American history. No such luck.

Across the West, lakes are half full and mountain snows are thin, omens of another summer of drought and wildfire. Complicating matters, many of the worst-hit states now have even less water on hand than a year ago, raising the specter of shortages and rationing that could inflict another year of losses on struggling farms.

Reservoir levels have fallen sharply in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. The soil is drier than normal. And while a few recent snowstorms have cheered skiers, the snowpack is so thin in parts of Colorado that the government has declared an “extreme drought” around the ski havens of Vail and Aspen.

“We’re worse off than we were a year ago,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/us/in-drought-stricken-heartland-snow-is-no-savior.html?hp&_r=0

[Warpy]

1. We finally got a decent snowfall here,

a whole four inches Wednesday night. That means the mountains likely got a foot. Our pavement was dry by noon and there are only a few patches of snow left now, mostly on the north side of buildings where sun never penetrates.

It's been an incredibly dry winter. Fire season this year will be pure hell, weeks of not being able to breathe properly because of the heavy smoke.

[aquart]

2. Aqueducts.

We send oil and gas all over. Water is more vital.

[Bennyboy]

3. Not shit for snow in Tahoe...

really not much snow anywhere even on the mountain tops. Got a little dusting the other day but no footage anywhere. Ski season is OVER........

[FirstLight]

4. totally

the economy up here just keeps getting worse too as a result...
The radio guy in truckee said when the last storm was coming in "6, no 8, no 10 inches possible from this storm!"

I was thinking he was playing it up for the tourists, when we locals lately KNOW not to believe it till we see it.

[Samjm]

5. I'm very concerned

We are so so dry here in CO. We were supposed to get a "significant" snowfall a couple of days ago. It was about an inch where I live. We're frequent campers and we've already planned to not be able to have campfires anywhere this year (I'm not whining about it, just recognizing the reality).

[pscot]

6. Not to play Pollyanna, but the Sierras and Cascades seem to be OK

This report from California is a bit stale, so things may have deteriorated:

SACRAMENTO -- The first mountain snowpack readings taken Jan. 2 by snow surveyors with the Department of Water Resources (DWR) and other agencies reveal water content “well above average for the date,” DWR officials stated Jan. 2 in a press release.

Manual and electronic readings recorded Jan. 2 show the California’s snowpack water content hovering at about 134% of average for this time of year. That is 49% of the average April 1 measurement, when the snowpack is typically at its peak before the spring melt.

“We are off to a good water supply start for the new year, but we have to remember that we have seen wet conditions suddenly turn dry more than once,” Ted Thomas, a spokesman for DWR said in a statement. “We know from experience that California is a drought-prone state, and that we must always practice conservation.”

.....................

Results of today’s manual readings of snowpack by DWR off Highway 50 near Echo Summit are as follows: Alpha location at 7,600 feet showed 56 inches of snow depth, 16 inches of water content and 122% of long term average; Phillips Station at 6,800 feet showed 48.6 inches of snow depth, 12.1 inches of water content and 101% of long term average; Lyons Creek at 6,700 feet showed 55.7 inches of snow depth, 12.9 inches of water content and 109% of long-term average. Tamarack Flat readings were not available.

Electronic readings indicate that water content in the northern mountains is 133% of normal for the date and 50% of the April 1 seasonal average. Electronic readings for the central Sierra also show 133% of normal for the date and half of the April 1 Average. The Southern Sierra revealed 131% of average for the date and 44% of the April 1 average.

http://www.acwa.com/news/water-supply-challenges/first-mountain-snowpack-survey-2013-reveals-%E2%80%9Cwell-above-average%E2%80%9D-water-


The Seattle Times reports Washington's snow pack is 137% of normal.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2017906543_apwasnowpack.html