How’s the snowpack looking?: Early winter status

Mike Peron / Tahoe Daily Tribune
EASTERN SIERRA, Calif./Nev. – Snow has started to fly with a couple of storms under the region’s belt, but it’s the time of year where there’s still some mystery to the type of winter hopeful skiers and other snow enthusiasts will have.
Although still too early to say what the April 1 snowpack will look like, snow water amounts across northern Nevada and the Eastern Sierra as of Dec. 17 are above normal, ranging from 106% to 157% of median for this time of year.
With three months of winter ahead, these current snow water amounts represent just 25-30% of median springtime peak amounts.
Jeff Anderson, a Nevada water supply specialist, says the April 1 date is important because that’s around the time the amount of water in the snowpack typically peaks and the snow begins to melt, feeding water to our lakes and rivers.
“The springtime snow water peak is winter’s final report card,” Anderson says. “That is really the measurement that determines if we had an above normal winter.”
Though often associated with the quality of winter fun, snowpack information is also important for conservation planning, water supply management, flood control, drought and avalanche prediction, as well as climate modeling.
Nevada’s Natural Resources Conservation Service through the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides mountain snowpack data and streamflow forecasts across the state and the Eastern Sierra.
The service’s first Water Supply Outlook Report of the season will be published in early January 2025.
For the latest updates or to subscribe, go to nrcs.usda.gov/nevada/snow-survey.

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