[env-trinity] Record Searchlight April 15

[Byron]

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA SNOWPACK:

Snowpack shrinks in spring clime; Falling flakes have been above average,
but below expectations

Redding Record Searchlight - 4/15/08

By Dylan Darling, staff writer

 

Since heavy snow blanketed the north state's high country in the first two
months of the year, few flakes have fallen and the snowpack has shriveled.

 

"Ever since mid February we have been falling behind fairly quickly," said
Pat Titus, a fire battalion captain with the U.S. Forest Service in Mount
Shasta who conducts snow surveys. Surveys at the end of March and beginning
of April showed the snowpack to be above average for this time of year, but
not as beefy as those waiting for its melt had hoped.

 

"For the past six weeks we've been really dry," said Jeff McCracken,
spokesman with the Bureau of Reclamation's Sacramento office.

 

March was the driest in half a century for the north state, according to
Western Regional Climate Center Figures.

 

And with spring in full bloom, the snow isn't likely to start piling up
again, Titus said. He said snowpack numbers usually don't go up much more
after April.

 

"It's not likely we would see any improvement," he said.

 

With the dry, sunny weather the snowpack also dropped from 107 percent of
average for the beginning of March to 85 percent of average for the start of
April for the seven sites Titus oversees. The sites include Horse Camp and
Sand Flat on the slopes of Mt. Shasta.

 

Although the snowpack numbers have been dropping, flows into reservoirs
around northern California haven't picked up yet, McCracken said.

 

"There is still a fairly substantial amount of snow in the mountains, but it
is just sitting there," McCracken said.

 

Combined with the lack of rainfall, this had led water managers to crimp
deliveries on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley.

 

McCracken said 600,000 acres of agricultural land where fruits, nuts and
vegetables are grown will likely be getting only 45 percent of their water
deliveries this year.

 

"It's getting pretty tight down there," he said.

 

 

Byron Leydecker

Friends of Trinity River, Chair

PO Box 2327

Mill Valley, CA 94942-2327

415 383 4810

415 519 4810 cell

415 383 9562 fax

bwl3 at comcast.net

bleydecker at stanfordalumni.org (secondary)

http://www.fotr.org

 

 

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