Drought: Sierra snowpack 'worst in a century'

[Newsjock]

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal

The traditional snow season ends April 1 with what appears to be the most dismal mountain snowpack on record, cementing 2015's status as the fourth drought year in a row and setting the stage for a difficult summer.

The Lake Tahoe Basin's snowpack Tuesday was only 3 percent of normal for the date and the Truckee River Basin's was measured at 14 percent, far worse than the end-of-season numbers for any of the previous three drought years in a situation that's one for the record books.

"It's pretty bad, the worst in a century," said Jeff Anderson, snow surveyor for the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service. "It not only squeaked by the record, I would say it shattered the record.


Read more: http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2015/03/31/drought-sierra-snowpack-worst-century/70734500/

[daleanime]

1. kick, kick, kick....

[OnlinePoker]

6. Instead of typing "kick, kick, kick", why not add some substance to your posts?

A post that's only 20 minutes old isn't going to disappear off the page so doesn't need to be kicked right away.

[daleanime]

8. Speed and, well, it's depressing to think....

about the impact of this. Everything from the daily lives of folks in the western US to food prices this summer are going to take a large hit.

Some times you just 'kick' a post to help it's visibility.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Going to be a tough summer in Cali.

[byronius]

3. We grow one fourth of the world's fruits, nuts and vegetables, I believe.

We have to solve this problem. It's an effing major disaster. Endless generational consequences.

[NickB79]

14. It's one fourth of the US supply of fruits and vegetables, actually

Still a lot, but not nearly 1/4 of the world. And the solution is simple: stop relying on one state to supply so much of our food.

More local eating, less reliance on trucking produce 2,000 miles to get to customers. Utilize farmers markets and small-scale, diversified farms and CSA's, or better yet grow a garden and plant some fruit trees in your backyard. More seasonal eating as well. Want fresh watermelon in January in Minnesota? Crazy talk. Eat some pickled beets and sauerkraut you canned yourself in the fall.

I know it sounds harsh and glib, but it's the reality we'll all face soon enough. What we're seeing now is climate change with *only* 0.8C of warming; we've pretty much locked in 2C or more of warming in the next few decades with atmospheric CO2 at the highest level in 3 million years.

We're watching the end of an era, and ultimately there's nothing we can do to maintain the status quo in the long term.

[byronius]

15. Thanks for the correction. All good suggestions, there.

Maybe something good will come around the corner. Ahem. Cough cough.

[GliderGuider]

4. Welcome to the Climate Change not-so-much-Fun House.

Management hopes you enjoy your stay.

"Not responsible for lost or damaged societies or other consequential damages."

[hatrack]

9. Or as I have gotten into the habit of saying, "WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! This is really exciting!!!"

[alittlelark]

5. Make lawns illegal.....

...including golf courses.....


Realistically just GET REAL w/agriculture which uses 90+% of the water.

[Demeter]

7. Michigan grows!

Time to start planting where the water is...

[seveneyes]

10. If your life depends on snow pack

You are just a snow pack away from extinction.

Sooner or later we will understand that time is our limit to what we can do as individuals.

[olddad56]

11. Worst in a century?

Quite possibly, on today's NPR news, they stated that they have only been measuring the snow pack in Sierra Nevadas since 1950. That being said, had they been measuring it for a century, it probably would be the worst in a Century.

The drought is not good, and the municipalities have imposed sanctions on residents. But not on the developers who keep building more homes. So, it is bad, but not bad enough to impact the people who make the big campaign contributions.

Fucking fuckers.

[Dem_Bones]

13. ^^^ THIS ^^^ nt

[jakeXT]

18. The article mentions 1913 for a location

At Lake Lucille in the Desolation Wilderness and at an altitude of 8,200 feet, the water content in the snowpack was 14.8 inches, significantly less than the previous record low of 20.4 inches set during the drought year of 1977. Records there date back to 1913. At lower elevations, the situation is more grim.

[CreekDog]

20. we have a housing shortage

i understand not wanting to allow developers to build wasteful projects, but many projects aren't wasteful and include low and/or moderate income units.

[niyad]

12. but there is no such thing as catastrophic climate change.

[Backwoodsrider]

16. snow level going down in southern OR

Stormy in Seatle, some rain here in southern OR. Looks like northern CA is getting some snow too but its going to take a long time of regularly scheduled rain and snow fall before this drought is corrected.
The newly warm pacific or 'El Nino' is bringing some promised rain but its weak, barely warm so if we go back to a cold pacific, 'La Nino' like in last 4 years CA infrastructure is going to need some help because there will be a real long term water shortage in one of the most productive growing areas on earth

[LeftyMom]

17. Since a lot of our electricity is hydropower, this is a problem twice over.

That's another wrinkle a lot of people who aren't familiar with the region may not have considered.

[Arthur_Frain]

19. On a related note

The fire season usually starts a bit after that April 1st date, but it's begun already this year. 2015 may in fact be the year the west burns, too much dry fuel and nothing to put it out with.