"Hyper-Emergency" Over As California Readies For 'Big Melt' After Record Snowpack
The drought in California is over!
Californians, please note that we have
Good news and bad News
...
After suffering from severe droughts on and off for years, the constant torrent of atmospheric rivers moistened soil enough to lift.
Over half (55%) of the Golden State has now been completely drained
Less than 2% of the State is still suffering from Severe Drought.
...
There's even more good news according to the state
water data
,
Reservoirs that had been depleted now have many reservoirs at or above 80 percent capacity
-and groundwater reserves received a major boost...
The good news is that California has seen a record-breaking winter.
Deepest snowpack for more than 70 Years
.
According to an estimate, the snowpack is currently 30 million acre feet deep, or as much water as Lake Mead -- America's largest reservoir.
LA Times Analysis
Snow sensor data.
The record snowfall was announced by state officials at their fourth annual meeting on Monday.
Snow survey for the Season
Phillips Station is located near South Lake Tahoe.
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Snowfall in the state on Monday was 237% above normal.
The snowfall was the deepest since the network of sensors in the state was set up in the middle 1980s.
The record is even deeper than the previous records, which were 227% in
1983
Set at 224%
1969
The record for the highest percentage of growth in the United States was 237%, set in
1952
Measured using baselines and earlier tools.
These were the only two years where April snowpack was above 200%.
Sean de Guzman is the manager of snow surveys at the Department of Water Resources.
It appears that this year's snowpack in the state will be "most likely" a record-breaking amount.
The first or second largest snowpack ever recorded
De Guzman stated that the earliest records date back to 1950.
The snowpack in southern Sierra measured a record 306% above normal for this date.
.
The bad news is that the water content in snow is 61.1 inches.
Yahoo News Reports
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All of that water will have to go downhill sooner or later.
Daniel Swain is a UCLA climate scientist.
The arrival of warmer weather will be good news for many people who are in need, but
It does mean the "big melt" is on its way.
"
Do not relax your guard just yet, California.
The excessive snowpack is a major cause of the extreme weather conditions.
The National Weather Service issued a warning on March 16.
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Flooding is a threat to approximately 15 million Californians.
The floods that occurred in the year 2000 caused a total of 1.4 million deaths, and another 6.4 millions may have been moderately affected.
Gregory Pierce, the co-director of UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation, says that now is not the time to rejoice in Mother Nature's abundance of wet stuff.
This precipitation is wonderful, and we can relax a bit on some of our most radical actions," adding that
"We bought ourselves more time so that we don't have to be in hyper-emergency but we're still in a dry spell."
This is going to be a very positive year.
He said.
At least, the "hyper emergency" is over.