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California Sierra snowpack approaching 40 year record highs

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K1052 said:
I wish. This 50s and rainy crap is not what I signed up for.
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It's gonna be over real soon. Here too, but in San Diego likely sooner. I figure in a couple weeks it will definitely feel like spring is arriving. My plum trees already know, but they aren't talking. They're just displaying thousands of white blossoms.
 
This is the ski area at Yosemite today. Remember that the last few years it's been mostly closed due to a lack of snow.

yosemite-ski.jpg
 
From what I've seen about the incoming storm, it will be a warm storm...and will probably melt off a lot of that record snowpack...and send it straight into the Pacific Ocean. The various reservoirs won't be able to handle it all coming all at once.
 
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BoomerD said:
From what I've seen about the inciming storm, it will be a warm storm...and will probably melt off a lot of that record snowpack...and send it straight into the Pacific Ocean. The various reservoirs won't be able to handle it all coming all at once.
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Reservoirs don't really have a flow rate max, the just fill until filled. Unless California has a lot that have pumped or controlled inlets, they'll capture all the water flowing to them until filled.
 
Zorba said:
Reservoirs don't really have a flow rate max, the just fill until filled. Unless California has a lot that have pumped or controlled inlets, they'll capture all the water flowing to them until filled.
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The reservoir operators will...if necessary...start releasing larger amounts of water to protect the dam from over-flowing. That's what caused the Oroville dam to wipe out its emergency spillway a few years back...trying to release hella water.
 
BoomerD said:
The reservoir operators will...if necessary...start releasing larger amounts of water to protect the dam from over-flowing. That's what caused the Oroville dam to wipe out its emergency spillway a few years back...trying to release hella water.
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Yeah, but that is because it was (over)full. It's a total storage issue, not a flow rate in issue. If it all melts tomorrow or in May the reservoirs are going to end up at capacity.
 
Zorba said:
Yeah, but that is because it was (over)full. It's a total storage issue, not a flow rate in issue. If it all melts tomorrow or in May the reservoirs are going to end up at capacity.
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It's both. Dam operators have to guestimate the expected in-flow of the runoff, then adjust the outflow so the dam doesn't over-top. Release too much for the inflow that actually happens...low water storage. Don't release enough...emergency releases like Oroville happen. During VERY wet events like this, it's a guessing and juggling game.
 
We were living in the Modesto area when this happened:


Note that the video is produced by the Turlock Irrigation District, the primary operator of Don Pedro Dam. The "legalese" gets pretty thick in places.
 
BoomerD said:
It's both. Dam operators have to guestimate the expected in-flow of the runoff, then adjust the outflow so the dam doesn't over-top. Release too much for the inflow that actually happens...low water storage. Don't release enough...emergency releases like Oroville happen. During VERY wet events like this, it's a guessing and juggling game.
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Not really, they have plans they follow. They do not release based on assumed future rain/moisture. Dams are designed to be able to outflow more than they will ever inflow. The limiting factor is always the downstream channel, and an attempt to balance flood storage vs downstream flooding. Oroville has a seasonal flood pool adjustment plus a normal flood pool, to allow it to be able to adsorb higher inflows than outflows. Once they run out of flood pool capacity, the lake becomes a pass through, where basically all inflow immediately outflows like a river.

Oroville happened because the spillway failed and they purposely stopped using the flood control spillway, until they realized the emergency spillway wasn't adequate.
 
Muse said:
Another storm coming through N. Calif. right now. I heard rolling thunder early this morning (it's only 4AM here now), then there was pouring rain laced with hail. I've heard thunder quite a few times in the last few weeks, which is very unusual. On average I hear thunder maybe once a year here.

More storms are imminent here. We aren't due for 3 straight days without rain until Thursday (4 days from now). Snow continues to pile up in the Sierras. I think we're around record levels now for the date and I figure we are apt to surpass records by April.
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We had rolling thunder yesterday too, first time I've heard it since I moved here, bit of a rarity, and we had hail twice. The thunder is rare enough I wasn't even sure that's what I was hearing at first, took it for air traffic of some sort, since that's pretty common.
 
nakedfrog said:
We had rolling thunder yesterday too, first time I've heard it since I moved here, bit of a rarity, and we had hail twice. The thunder is rare enough I wasn't even sure that's what I was hearing at first, took it for air traffic of some sort, since that's pretty common.
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Welcome to the PNW. The first time I saw thunder and lightning here was during a hail storm in the late winter.
 
conehead433 said:
So California may get it's reservoirs filled later this spring. So maybe a year with no water shortages and then back to the same problems.
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You're spot on that drought conditions are the "new normal." Many urban areas could learn a lot from Las Vegas metro, which uses very little water per resident.

The State Water Project will be able to release a better allocation to Big Agriculture, but I suspect it'll still be far short of 100%. More importantly, underground aquifers in the Central Valley have been depleting for decades; and the Southwestern states that draw from the Colorado River desperately need to get their shit together and make a durable, effective deal. I'm in SoCal, and "senior water rights" aside, we need to drastically cut allocations from the lower river basin. Realistically that means agriculture needs to use a lot less water, by any means necessary.

The Sierra Nevada snowpack is looking great, but a lot depends on the coming weather this spring. If it's too warm or wet, the snowpack will melt too quickly and not last as long.
 
blackangst1 said:
We've had near record level snowfall in northern AZ this year

Arizona snowfall totals: Winter storm batters Flagstaff area | 12news.com

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I drove from Phoenix to Monument Valley a few years ago through Flagstaff. It was probably the worst snowstorm I've ever driven through. People were flying by us in the left lane which wasn't even plowed, and down the road we'd see trucks in the ditch. After seeing about 15 vehicles in the ditch I was thinking don't these idiots learn from seeing the others? And we live in Wisconsin where we get our share of blizzards.
 
I just imagine that McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park will be awesome this year with the snow melt if it accumulated much near to it.

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conehead433 said:
I just imagine that McWay Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park will be awesome this year with the snow melt if it accumulated much near to it.

View attachment 77853
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As long as all the run-off doesn't take the highway out...AGAIN.

www.goodtimes.sc

Highway 1 in Big Sur Reopens After Debris Flow Washout

A section of Highway 1 with dramatic views of the rocky Pacific shore of California has reopened after being severed by a powerful storm in January.
www.goodtimes.sc www.goodtimes.sc

Seems to happen every few years in one part or another.
 
nOOky said:
I drove from Phoenix to Monument Valley a few years ago through Flagstaff. It was probably the worst snowstorm I've ever driven through. People were flying by us in the left lane which wasn't even plowed, and down the road we'd see trucks in the ditch. After seeing about 15 vehicles in the ditch I was thinking don't these idiots learn from seeing the others? And we live in Wisconsin where we get our share of blizzards.
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Nowadays in AZ they often just close the roads, even I-15 and I-40, because of the idjits who don't know how to drive in snow. Plus they don't have a lot of Snowplows on deck.
 
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