March dismal for Sierra snowpack
RENO,
Nev. (AP) — March brought few storms and little snow to the Sierra, leaving the
snowpack below average to date, officials said.
Though
spring storms could still add to the snow totals, April typically signals an
end to the peak snow season.
“After
January, we were looking really good, but February and March just didn’t
produce anything,” said Dave Wathen, a hydrologist
with the federal water master’s office in Reno.
As
of Tuesday, the snowpack in the Lake Tahoe basin was 87 percent of average for
the date, according to the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.
After
a slow start, back-to-back storms in January blanketed the Sierra, boosting the
snowpack to well-above-average levels. As recently as late February, the Tahoe
Basin snowpack was at more than 115 percent of average.
But March — typically the fourth largest month for
snowfall — produced Sierra snow for only few days. March precipitation measured
at Tahoe City was only 25 percent of average, Wathen
said.