California Snowpack Story in Pictures

Teachable moment.

Reposting Tom Painter of NASA on the importance of Snowpack in California.
Worth repeating because the Sacramento Bee has published a series of pictures from a Yosemite webcam that underscore the severity of the issue. The mountain snowpack, which serves as a natural storehouse for water during the dry California summers is at 5 percent of normal.

Sacramento Bee:

Snow in California’s Sierra Nevada range typically reaches its greatest depths in late March, covering peaks like Yosemite’s famed Half Dome.

But this is the fourth consecutive year of drought in California. Earlier this month, state officials reported that the Sierra snowpack, which much of California relies on for water, is just five percent of its normal depth.

At Yosemite, Half Dome is generally quilted with snow by this time of year. The iconic peak stands roughly 9,000 feet tall — and is today virtually snow free, with no big snow storms in the forecast for the remainder of the month.

These images, taken by a Yosemite Conservancy webcam, show Half Dome on March 19 of each year from 2011 to 2015.

March 19, 2011 – Before Drought