‘Robust’ Sturm brings snow to Sierra Nevada

Over the next few days, a significant snow in the Sierra Nevada could be the last large snow eponym of the region of the season, which shows a dramatic rebound for the snow cover, which offers a significant part of the California water reserves until the rest of the year.

Snow fell in the Sierra Nevada, the California mountain chain, which spans the border of the state to Nevada on Sunday, and much more is expected until Tuesday. Increases over 4,000 feet are expected to absorb a snow, while the highest peaks over 8,000 feet could take five feet.

“It will be very difficult at the moment,” said Andrew Schwartz, the director of the Central Sierra Snow Lab at the University of California in Berkeley, on Monday morning. “I think it’s one of the snow -covered periods that we had all over the season.”

The snow arrived with a large storm system that was distributed over the entire length of the west coast on Monday and is expected to deliver light to medium -heavy scattered rain from Seattle to Los Angeles. The precipitation was also expected in Southern California, said Dr. Schwartz: “Just not so much in the north.”

But the big story with this system is the snow.

The weather service described the storm system in the Sierra Nevada “robust” and winter -like and published a number of winter storm warnings that prevent people from traveling to the mountains until Tuesday. In times with strong snow drivers, it will probably be necessary to use tire chains to travel on many of the most important highways, including the Interstates 80 and 50, which offer access in and from the Tahoe basin.

The Klamath Mountains and Cascade Range in Oregon and California also receive large snow days.

All this snow is good news for the Sierra Snowpack, one of the most important water sources for California and Nevada. While the snow cover melts through spring and summer, it fills up reservoirs and offers fish habitat in rivers.

The fate of the snow cover was worrying during a dry start, but thanks to other storms, this frozen reservoir became almost normal normal value 89 percent for this season. A plenty of snow in the north -sierra helps to compensate for a smaller section in South California, which has received far below average rainfall this season.

After a long drought in California, the last two winter ended with normal or over the normal snow packaging, and a third season in a row would be unusual, but not unknown. The last time was in the winters from 1998 to 2000 and previously from 1978 to 1980.

“This storm can bring it,” said Dr. Schwartz, who follows the snowfalls in the laboratory in the laboratory, which is held on Donner -Pass in the central -sierra. “I would think we’ll hardly land below average. This storm will really help.”

At this time of year, the size of the snow cover is of crucial importance, since now when it usually reaches the most before it starts to melt. Water managers use data from the end of the season to predict water supply in the next winter. Last week, in an annual ceremonial events to check the snow cover, they trampled through the snow at the Phillips station on Highway 50 near the Tahoe Lake Tahoe.

“From big storms in November and December to a bone drying in January, then back to big storms in February and March, this year is an apprenticeship as to why we can not know what our water picture will look like until the end of our traditional wet season,” said Andy Reising, manager of the California department for water resources and water supply forecast.

In late Tuesday, the storm system will move to the Great Plains to achieve strength and offer an opportunity for intensive thunderstorms in the central United States.