Tuesday March 19, 2024
KQED —
The California snowpack is glistening white at more than 100% of the average for this time of year — and meteorologists forecast a storm this weekend could deepen it even more.
The snowpack could grow by as much as 2 feet at the highest elevations as a typical winter-like storm passes over the Sierra Nevada as soon as Friday and lasts through Sunday, said National Weather Service Sacramento meteorologist Dakari Anderson.
Water managers consider California’s snowpack as a frozen reservoir that plays a significant role in providing water to farms and cities as it slowly melts into reservoirs, rivers and streams.
“The storm won’t be like anything we saw in the last few storms,” Anderson said of weather patterns that piled as much as 12 feet of snow in parts of the Sierra. “Overall, we are looking at above-normal amounts of snow across the Sierra because of what happened in February.”