West snowpack still fragile
Despite the local refresh in the Sierra, broader western snowpack losses in March left many regions at record‑low levels, and side‑by‑side photos show how much ground was lost in a month. The Cool Down’s comparison pieces document large, rapid declines in snowpack that the recent storms don’t entirely erase (thecooldown.com). For Pacific Crest Trail planning that means improved Sierra access in spots like Mammoth and Tahoe but a continued overall risk profile for fast melt and low reservoir carryover elsewhere (wsls.com).
A spring storm dropped more than 3.5 feet of snow in California’s eastern Sierra, but the broader West is still coming out of March with snowpack near record lows. (wsls.com) California’s April 1 survey at Phillips Station found no measurable snow, and the state said record heat and high-elevation rain in March erased much of an already thin Sierra snowpack. Statewide snowpack on April 7 stood at 16% of the April 1 average, with the Northern Sierra at 5%, the Central Sierra at 19%, and the Southern Sierra at 26%. (water.ca.gov 1) (water.ca.gov 2) The new Sierra snowfall was enough for Mammoth Mountain to extend its season after storms on April 12 and April 13, and Interstate 80 briefly closed during the same system. The Associated Press report carried by WSLS said the storm arrived just weeks after a March heat wave forced many California ski areas to shut early. (wsls.com) Across the West, the losses were not limited to California. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s drought portal said on April 9 that Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming all posted record-low April 1 snow water equivalent values in the modern SNOTEL record, while California logged its second-lowest April 1 value. (drought.gov) Colorado’s Natural Resources Conservation Service said statewide snowpack was 22% of median on April 9 after most basins peaked in late February or mid-March and then declined through March. The agency also said April-to-July runoff forecasts are well below median across Colorado. (nrcs.usda.gov) Washington declared a statewide drought on April 8, saying an exceptionally warm winter left many river basins with near-record low snowpack at the start of spring. The Department of Ecology said the state depends on that mountain snow to feed rivers and reservoirs through summer. (ecology.wa.gov) For Pacific Crest Trail hikers, that leaves a split picture in mid-April. The Pacific Crest Trail Association says most hikers aim for snow-free months because snow travel is hazardous, and it directs hikers to current trail conditions and closures because spring conditions can change quickly. (pcta.org 1) (pcta.org 2) Snowpack works like a mountain reservoir: winter storms store water as snow, then spring and summer melt release it downstream over time. When March heat turns snow to runoff early or pushes storms to fall as rain instead, reservoirs, farms, and trails lose that slower release later in the season. (water.ca.gov) (drought.gov) That is why the side-by-side satellite comparisons from February and March matter more than one late storm. They show how fast snow disappeared across ranges in California, Utah, and Colorado before April even began. (thecooldown.com)
