24 Days Without Measurable Snow is California’s 3rd Longest Winter Dry Spell Since 1991 According to California’s Central Sierra Snow Lab (CSSL), the Sierra Nevada is experiencing an unusually dry January, marking its seventh driest start to the year since 1971. As of January 28, 2025, the lab has recorded only 1.5 inches of precipitation this month, raising concerns about potential drought conditions in the region. Related: SnowBrains Podcast Episode #60 | Dr. Daniel […] SnowBrains | January 28, 2025 0 Comments
SnowBrains Forecast: Northern Rockies Revival | Several Inches of Much Needed Snow NBM Snowfall Map Through Saturday Night. Source: maps.weatherbell.com Forecast Summary The Northern Rockies will receive a much needed boost to their snowpack over the next couple of days. A deep trough will drop down across much of the western US Sunday/Monday, bringing colder air, at least temporarily, and widespread snowfall. A cold front will first cross Northern Idaho/Northwest Montana Sunday night, […] Weather WeatherBrains | February 24, 2024 0 Comments
NASA: California Just Saw its Greatest Year-Over-Year Water Gains in 2 Decades After years of intense drought and diminishing groundwater, California just saw its greatest year-over-year water gains in two decades, according to data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) satellite mission, a partnership between NASA and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). This past winter’s bonanza of atmospheric rivers alleviated some of the water deficit that the […] SnowBrains | June 12, 2023 0 Comments
California Statewide Snowpack is Over 300% of Average It is no secret that the winter of 2022/23 will go down in history as one of the best ever. 18 resorts throughout the western United States set snowfall records, many of them in California. Related: A Photo Tour of the Buried Houses of Mammoth Lakes, CA | Spring 2023 The banner year continues to leave a lasting impression as […] Industry News Brent Thomas | May 9, 2023 0 Comments
Recent Atmospheric Rivers Significantly Improve California’s Drought Status The eleven atmospheric rivers that dumped over fifty feet of snow and record rainfall on California have significantly impacted the state’s drought status. The map above shows the drought status at the turn of the year, and the one below shows the latest data from the US Drought Monitor. Related: Atmospheric Rivers: How They Work, and How El Niño and La […] SnowBrains | March 17, 2023 0 Comments
Utah’s Great Salt Lake Could Disappear by 2027 The Great Salt Lake in Utah is currently losing water at a rate of 1.2 million acre-feet per year. This equates to over 391,021,130,000 gallons of water disappearing from the lake per year. Several universities and environmental organizations wrote a report this year sounding the alarm about this potential ecological catastrophe. They claim that if the lake continues to shrink […] Brains Riley McDonald | January 13, 2023 5 Comments
Mount Washington Alpine Resort, BC, Asking Guests to Bring Own Drinking Water and Use Outdoor Porta Potties Due to Drought Vancouver Island, BC, is currently experiencing the worst drought in 15 years and it’s having a significant effect on a local ski area. Related: Ski Resort Ownership: Who Owns Which Mountain Resorts? The lack of snow at Mount Washington Alpine Resort means that not only is snow coverage low for today’s opening day, but lack of water in local reservoirs […] Industry News SnowBrains | December 9, 2022 0 Comments
NASA: All Eyes on the Snow as Water Supplies Dwindle As the American West suffers a 22-year-long “megadrought” that researchers say is the worst in at least 1,200 years, water managers now have a new level of insight into just how much water will be available for their communities. Water departments in the West are using maps and models originally created by a NASA team to help track water and […] SnowBrains | September 26, 2022 0 Comments
The West is Much Wetter and Greener This Year Compared to Last Many know that the spring skiing season in the Pacific Northwest ended very well this year. Additionally, the start of summer has seen comparatively cooler temperatures with continued rainfall. These two factors combined have made it much wetter and greener compared to last year. Contrast these two satellite images. The first picture is from 2021 and the second is from […] Weather Brent Thomas | July 5, 2022 0 Comments
Wettest April on Record Hardly Touches California’s Extreme Drought Situation A colder and wetter than normal April and early May has improved snowpack in California since the end of March. Related: 8-Trillion Gallons of Precipitation Just Fell on California | Surely That’s Enough to End the Drought, Right? However, the snow nowhere near makes up for the record-breaking dry spell between January and March. The state is still in a drought, […] WeatherBrains | May 13, 2022 0 Comments
California to Enter 3rd Year of Drought as Snowpack Officially “Well Below Average” California’s Sierra snowpack has fallen “well below average” in the third official measurement of the season the Department of Water Resources reported yesterday. The snow survey was taken at Phillips Station west of Lake Tahoe. “With only one month left in California’s wet season and no major storms in the forecast, Californians should plan for a third year of drought conditions. […] SnowBrains | March 2, 2022 0 Comments
Western US Facing Worst Drought for 1,200-Years The US is experiencing one of the driest winters yet, as the megadrought continues. It’s been over a month since the West has seen a significant snowstorm. It’s been one of the driest years on record, with snow covering just 27% of the US. It’s the driest it’s been in 1,200 years. Related: NOAA: Even Small Additional Increases in Greenhouse […] Aunika Skogen | February 16, 2022 2 Comments
Truckee, CA, Currently Experiencing Longest Winter Dry Spell Since 1990 Truckee, CA, is currently experiencing its most prolonged consecutive days without measurable precipitation during meteorological winter since 1990, reports The Sierra Sun. As of today, it has been 34-days. Related: SnowBrains Forecast: Looking Ahead – Where’s the Snow? The old record may be beaten with no precipitation in the forecast for at least the next couple of weeks. “It looks like […] SnowBrains | February 11, 2022 0 Comments
8-Trillion Gallons of Precipitation Just Fell on California | Surely That’s Enough to End the Drought, Right? 8-trillion gallons. That’s the amount of liquid that fell on California in the space of a few days earlier this week. Many areas broke long-standing rainfall records. Sacramento airport saw 82% of last year’s total rainfall. Through this morning, the unprecedented bomb-cyclone and atmospheric river have dropped well over 8-Trillion gallons of precipitation (liquid water) on state of California. The climate-fueled […] SnowBrains | October 28, 2021 5 Comments
‘Drought Emergency’ Declared for Entire State of California Proclamation authorizes State Water Board to ban wasteful water uses, boosting conservation efforts. Following the second driest year on record and with near-record low storage in California’s largest reservoirs, Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday issued a proclamation extending the drought emergency statewide. He also further urged Californians to step up their water conservation efforts as the western U.S. faces a potential […] SnowBrains | October 21, 2021 5 Comments
NOAA: Even Small Additional Increases in Greenhouse Gases Will Make Decades-Long “Megadroughts” More Common This post first appeared on climate.gov and was written by Michon Scott and Rebecca Lindsey At the dawn of the 21st century, drought descended on southwestern North America. Two decades later, the drought continues. Recent NOAA-funded research found that even small additional increases in greenhouse gas emissions will make such decades-long “megadroughts” more common. But limiting greenhouse gas emissions will […] Weather WeatherBrains | September 28, 2021 0 Comments
Giant Sequoias Unharmed in California Wildfire For nearly two weeks, a fire has ravaged across the western side of California Sierra Nevada, known as the KNP Complex. Despite burning through California’s Sequoia National Park, there hasn’t been observed damage to any of the 2,000 sequoias in the park, including the largest, most well-known sequoia trees of the bunch. The fire, which was started by lightning strikes, […] Brains Breya Bergom | September 21, 2021 0 Comments
Cloud Seeding: The Future of Drought Management? The Western US is in a severe drought, with many areas experiencing drought-like conditions since the early 2000s. While lots of energy is spent debating what is causing these conditions (human-induced climate change vs. natural climate variations), not as much energy is spent attempting to generate and implement solutions to reverse these drought conditions. This is not good since the threat […] Brains Clay Malott | September 3, 2021 0 Comments
NASA: In July Great Salt Lake, UT, Reached Lowest Level Ever Recorded and Has Kept Dropping This story first appeared on NASA Earth Observatory and was written by Michael Carlowicz. In late July 2021, the Great Salt Lake in Utah reached its lowest water level on record, and it has continued dropping since then. On July 23, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) gauge at the Saltair boat harbor at the southern end of the lake recorded […] WeatherBrains | August 18, 2021 0 Comments
Flooding and Drought at the Same Time? A Reality for Much of Utah The western U.S. has seen exceptional drought this summer, leading to extremely dry soil. The beginning of the monsoon season has brought heavy rainfall, which brings much-needed moisture. But with it brings flash flooding to areas that are unprepared. According to Glen Merrill, hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, Capitol Reef National Park broke a record […] Brains Joseph Puetz | August 4, 2021 1 Comment
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