Donner drought: Lowest snow total ever measured for this time of year (with pic)

[Newsjock]

http://blog.sfgate.com/ski/2012/02/07/donner-drought-lowest-snow-total-ever-measured/?tsp=1

As of Tuesday morning, this winter is the driest ever recorded at this time at Donner Summit, reported Michael Pechner at Golden West Meterology.

At the weather station at Norden, only 12 inches of snow was on the ground, with 89 inches of total snowfall so far, Pechner said.

A 69-inch snowpack and 221 inches of total snowfall is normal for this date. In an average year, Norden gets 450 inches of snow.

[sce56]

1. Last year was a record snow pack so we went from Boom to Bust!

[malaise]

2. I had a thread here a few weeks ago wondering about

the impact of the lack of snow down the line - troubling indeed.

[Warpy]

3. The nice soggy La Nina pattern only lasted a few weeks

last fall and now we're locked into another bone dry El Nino pattern. If this keeps up, we're probably going to start to see a migration away from the west because there is just not going to be enough water to maintain most lifestyles, not to mention most jobs.

[safeinOhio]

4. Get in on those Detroit

properties while you can.

[CanSocDem]

5. Great news for....

...the trucking industry. Can't count the number of times I was delayed, diverted or simply stressed attempting to cross that mountain pass in the winter time.

.