The Sierra Nevada saw nearly 18 feet of snow in just one month and still California is in desperate need of more precipitation to replenish water levels now at a crisis point. Residents continue to conserve as experts try to figure out when it will end.
Published Jan. 11, 2022 2:54 PM EST | Updated Jan. 11, 2022 4:13 PM EST
Atmospheric rivers were quick to bring flooding rains to the Bay Area when California's water year began on Oct. 1. In the mountains, the Sierra Nevada saw a record-setting 18 feet of snow during December alone.
"We saw 214 inches of snowfall for December, which blows the previous record of 179 inches set in 1970 completely out of the water," said Dr. Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the University of California, Berkeley's Central Sierra Snow Lab, which has been taking daily measurements of the snowfall in the Sierra Nevada.
Satellite pictures of California showing the snowpack on Dec. 1, 2021, and Jan. 9, 2022. Not only can more snow be seen over the mountains, but the land is noticeably greener following waves of storms throughout December. (NASA WorldView)
But the sheer onslaught of precipitation didn’t stop there. In early December, a long-duration storm unloaded a month's worth of rain in just a few days along the West Coast. Many parts of California recorded as much as 9.89 inches of precipitation in just 36 hours as a result of the heavy rain. Several streams and creeks rose around the North Bay, some even reaching minor flood stage.
But despite the record rain and snow in the state, it hasn't been enough to alleviate California's drought problem. Much of California remains under moderate-to-extreme drought conditions: Sacramento is facing extreme drought conditions while the Bay Area is classified slightly lower as a severe level of drought.
"We are a little bit concerned about a repeat of November where we come out with maybe higher-than-average temperatures and then a little bit less precipitation that causes this to melt off what we have already and for us to not get that full snowpack that we really want and need," Schwartz told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
Snowpack and snow water content levels are well above average for this time of year, according to California's Department of Water Resources. All snowpack in the Sierra is 148% above average while the south Sierra is 157% above, over 100% more than the average by April 1.
Even so, researchers remain cautiously optimistic about the season and are hoping for more snow and cold weather so the snowpack will stick around all winter.
Anthony Burdock, left, and Sean de Guzman, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources, check the depth of the snow pack during the first snow survey of the season at Phillips Station near Echo Summit, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. Despite a wet December The State Water Resources Control Board adopted mandatory water restrictions on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022 designed to spur more conservation. (AP Photo/Randall Benton,File)
"These kind of extreme drought periods are not going to get less frequent. So even if we wind up with these incredible precipitation events like we've had recently, that doesn't mean they're going to relieve the drought," said Schwartz.
The weather has helped reservoir levels slowly rebound. Earlier this month, the hydropower plant at Lake Oroville was turned on for the first time since historically low reservoir levels closed the plant in August.
California Department of Water Resources has been inputting data into different types of models to try and predict runoff. Being able to anticipate certain amounts of runoff is a key component in creating a water supply forecast, according to Sean De Guzman, manager of California's Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys.
"Next year might be an even more severe drought, which means we need as much of our water resources as we can have stored at that point," Schwartz said.
In the meantime, families and businesses in the West are being urged to continue conserving water this winter so more can go around when it's needed the most this summer, according to officials.
Reporting by Bill Wadell.
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