Thursday March 27, 2025
Action News Now —
On Tuesday, a crew from Pacific Gas & Electric took to the skies in a helicopter to access a remote part of the Lassen Volcanic National for their snow survey.
PG&E, which is dependent on the snow melt to help generate hydro-electricity around the state of California, conducted the survey to help predict just how much snow melt is expected in the coming months.
“The Northstate is a beautiful place and to be here in the Lassen Volcanic National Park, almost in winter when people can’t get in this far, is fantastic,” said Paul Moreno, spokesperson for PG&E.
Due to the amount of snowfall at the park making it impossible to get where they need to go by car or on foot, PG&E has to fly their snow survey crew in with a helicopter in order to conduct the survey.
“Somebody in a day to day situation doesn’t even know that this work is occurring,” said Dan Stephens, a hydrographer on the snow survey crew for PG&E. “It’s an obscure job, but it underpins the effort to understand the quantity of water across the landscape and how its going to provide a societal need.”