Sierra Snowmageddon A Welcome Change, But Some Level Of Drought Persists Throughout California
A series of major storms have doused the parched landscapes of the American west with rain and record-breaking amounts of snow over the past two weeks, offering a hopeful reprieve after a devastatingly dry year.
In California, which has been mired in drought, the snowpack has grown to 159% of what’s considered normal for this time of year, and the state got to more than half of its 1 April average, with some areas receiving more than 122in of snow over the last seven days. It’s not just in the mountains. Rainfall records have been broken across the state, and southern California is bracing for floods, flows, and more frigid temperatures through the end of the week.
The strong storms also were able to pull swaths of the state out of the highest categories of drought. The latest report from the US Drought Monitor, released 30 December, shows that roughly 33% is now classified in “extreme” drought, down from nearly 80% categorized last week. Only a tiny fraction – less than 1% – is categorized as in “exceptional” drought. It’s good news – but the drought remains.
Despite what officials and experts are calling a promising start to the water year (which is measured starting each October), the whole state remains in some form of drought, and there’s a long way to go before California overcomes deficits left by dry conditions. “This drought has been a very severe drought so the water deficits have been severe,” says Noah Diffenbaugh a climate scientist at Stanford University. He likens the storms to an overdue check received after months without pay. “If you don’t get paid for weeks or months on end and then you get a regular paycheck that doesn’t make up for everything you’ve lost out on.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/30/california-record-snowfall-drought