Where’s the snow? Trips up Northern California highways reveal shocking images

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

The winter temperature tantrum is having a mind-boggling effect across California’s high country, that much is well known.

What is not so well known is what you can see – and the precip numbers you can discover — on trips into the mountains. The shock of the present realities can feel like somebody has grabbed you by the ears and lifted you off the ground.

... I-80 to Truckee: To put this in perspective, Blue Canyon averages 252 inches of snow per year, Truckee averages 204 inches per year, and both have zilch right now. The weather station at Blue Canyon (5,240-foot elevation at the small airport) is used as a reporting point for meteorologists across America; it has bare dirt around it right now. Drought? Hardly. The station has already recorded an amazing 46.67 inches of rain this winter. If all that rain were snow, it could be 20, 30 feet high.

... I-5 to Mount Shasta: In many years in January, you can park along the Dunsmuir Grade and take videos of all the people trying to sneak up without putting chains on, where they can spin out and plow into snow banks. It’s not only bare dirt along the Dunsmuir Grade, but it has not snowed there even once this season. Zero. Yet just above the Dunsmuir Grade, at Girard Ridge, the rain gauge has recorded 46.88 inches of rain this winter. Last year at this time, it was about 4 inches. On Saturday, the freezing level was 10,600 feet at Mount Shasta, some 1,500 feet higher than 9,025-foot Mount Eddy to the west.

Read more: http://blog.sfgate.com/stienstra/2015/01/24/stienstra-wheres-the-snow-trips-up-norcal-highways-reveal-shocking-images

[Agschmid]

1. Kick.

[spanone]

2. k&r...

[Journeyman]

3. So much like last year -- a promising start, a barren winter . . .

[SunSeeker]

4. It's been a very warm winter, again.

I know Los Angeles is famous for its balmy winters, but it hit 86 today.

I guess that rain we had did not stick as snow up north, or if it did, it all melted with this week's heat.

[JDPriestly]

9. Climate change or global warming is obvious in California.

It's incredibly warm so far. We had maybe 4-5 chilly days this January. Maybe we could still have some relatively cold days in February and March, but it still won't cool us down as it has in past years.

Normally, my basil dies when the temperature gets below say 50 or so. This year, right now, I still have basil in my pots in my back yard. It has not died this year. It is not doing well, but we have not had cold weather for long enough to kill it -- for the first time. Similarly, I still have mint in my garden, a plant that in past years has gone dormant in the winter and then reappeared in the spring and summer.

Oh, yes, another first: blooming tomato plants -- volunteers in my big pots in my back yard.

I am in Los Angeles. This is not normal. And it isn't just this year. I see in my garden a general trend toward warming. Each year seems a bit warmer than the last.

I asked my neighbor whether she had planted. She said no. She is thinking of the seasons as they used to be. Here in Los Angeles, I tried to plant in November straight outside and not indoor seedlings in the past and lost the plants. This year I planted straight outdoors, mostly lettuce and arugula and dill, granted plants that like cooler weather, but they are thriving. I have already eaten some of this year's homegrown lettuce.

Climate change. What can I say?

[stopwastingmymoney]

19. Up north too

We're 60 mi north of San Francisco and it's been a strange winter so far. I have lots of herbs and geraniums that should be dormant now and they're still going strong, even flowering a little. I think we've had light frost 3 or 4 times.

I've also noticed things blooming that shouldn't be until March or later. Tulip trees, Azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias and more. The bulb flowers are pushing up early.

It's very strange

[rollin74]

12. yes, unfortunately the wet stormy weather from a few weeks back...

came with relatively warm temps and high snow levels in the Sierra

not a good situation

[Curtis]

5. I live in Greenville, Plumas County, CA

It is bad, bad, bad. I look around and wonder what the state is going to do. Where is the water for the crops? Where is the water for drinking? It's just not there and the silence coming from the media and the government is deafening. This is serious and we can't do anything to fix it. I forsee empty reservoirs by the end of summer. And, I mean empty with no rivers feeding them.

[mackerel]

7. Omgeeeeeeee! My brother lives in Greenville too! It's beautiful up that way and I love

the drive up through the Feather River Canyon.

[JDPriestly]

10. If you have a hurricane or bad floods, the government helps the damaged region.

Same for tornadoes. It's a national emergency.

What about the kind of drought we are having in California? Texas and other parts of the Southwest too, maybe.

I wonder if the emergency nature of the problem will be recognized.

We used to build dams and flood control structures. I wonder whether we will get either viaducts to bring us water or perhaps solar powered desalination plants.

I will say one thing. Two years ago I planted succulents and water-wise plants in my front yard. It looks great and I am not watering in addition to the rain that we have had, at least not much, not even once every couple of weeks. Many of my neighbors also have water-wise landscaping. It looks good if I do say so myself, and we are saving lots of water. I tried to choose a mix of all-green succulents and those with a touch or even a lot of red and orange. I wanted some color. You can do it if you try. I you see a succulent you like in a garden of a friend, don't hesitate to ask for a cutting. Keep some rooting hormone on hand (available in garden stores), dip the bottom end of the cutting in the hormone and stick the cutting in your yard. You may get a nice plant. And your friend won't mind because succulents easily get out of hand. Succulents can be a lot of fun if you pick those with good structure and shape and if you like color, with color.

We are trying to make the most of the water we have. I save the water I use to wash vegetables and put it on my vegetables and any plants that need water. But we still don't have enough water. Remember. We use far less fuel for heat than do people in other parts of the country. And the drought is no more our fault that are tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts or snow storms and spring floods. We are going to need help to deal with our drought.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Alaska has been pretty snowless this winter, too.

We finally got a few inches the past couple of days which at last put our Seasonal snowfall total above Amarillo's.

[Fearless]

8. I'm grateful at least it wasn't a drought as well

Come summer that will be an issue, snow melts slower and releases water slower than rain, but still something is better than nothing.

[Cha]

11. Bummer.. I know how many people depend on their livelihood for reasonable seasonable SNOW!

[safeinOhio]

13. Where’s the snow?

Right here in the Old Rust Belt. We have cold, rain, snow, cheap real estate and now, even jobs. Our lakes are so great, we even call them the Great Lakes. Just think Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo.

[bemildred]

14. Yep, you won't run out of water soon there.

California is semi-desert and building all this stuff here was stupid, but not as stupid as building Las Vegas, or Phoenix.

[safeinOhio]

15. Don't get me wrong.

I'd move to Southern Cal. in a minute if I could afford it. If I sold my 4 bedroom, 3 bath house, I might be able to buy half a single-wide, but then I couldn't afford the lot rent.

[bemildred]

16. Yeah, I like the mountains. But I like fresh water a lot too.

Frankly, the housing costs are a pain in the ass, although I do own a home, you have to spend a large portion of your time supporting it and repairing it and worrying about it and then selling it. I just want a place to live. Accumulation and supervision of property is not the purpose of life.

Edit: but it's the winters really, we both know that, why people move here.

[HereSince1628]

17. Has the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge returned??

They'll have to start referring to it as seasonal weather rather than an anomaly if this keeps up.

[NutmegYankee]

18. You want snow?

I'll sell it to you real cheap - buyer pays all moving costs. I live in the 18-24" zone.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

20. I haven't been to the the mountains, but in SoCal today it's like a sunny day in June

Perfect weather.