Sierra gets big dump

A late spring storm dropped more than 3.5 feet of snow in parts of the Sierra Nevada, flipping a thin April snowpack into a fresh burst of skiable terrain. (apnews.com) In Tahoe and Truckee, higher-elevation resorts including Palisades Tahoe and Kirkwood reported roughly 3.5 feet of new snow after the weekend system moved through on Sunday, April 12. OpenSnow forecaster Bryan Allegretto said the storm pushed April snowfall to about 70 inches so far, the snowiest April there since 2022. (tahoedailytribune.com) At Mammoth Mountain in the eastern Sierra, the storm brought more than 3.5 feet of snow and helped keep the resort running later into spring. The resort said 11 lifts were operating on Monday, April 13, even as it warned that dirt, rocks, and bushes were still close to the surface. (apnews.com) Snowpack is the mountain snow that melts into rivers and reservoirs, and California water managers treat April 1 as the key checkpoint for how much runoff to expect. This year, the California Department of Water Resources found no measurable snow at Phillips Station on April 1, and statewide snowpack was just 18 percent of average for that date. (water.ca.gov) That April 1 reading was California’s second-lowest on record, after a hot, dry March and a warm late-February atmospheric river melted snow weeks ahead of schedule. The department said the statewide snowpack likely peaked on or near February 24 instead of around April 1. (water.ca.gov) Across the West, the same pattern showed up in federal drought data. Drought.gov said California logged its second-lowest April 1 snow water equivalent, while Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming set record lows. (drought.gov) The storm still changed conditions on the ground. Interstate 80 in Northern California briefly shut down Sunday in blizzard conditions, and chain controls remained in place early Monday on the route between the Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. (apnews.com) Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab measured 42.5 inches between Friday and Sunday and said the burst “has been great to create a late-season snowpack.” The lab added that the winter’s record warmth still left the water year well below average. (kmph.com) So the Sierra ended up with two truths at once in mid-April: enough fresh snow for bonus ski days, and a seasonal snowpack that water managers still rank near the bottom of the record book. (tahoedailytribune.com) (water.ca.gov)