Storms put big hurt on Sierra drought

Recent storms have brought the drought to heal as Lake Tahoe rose above the rim on Tuesday for the first time since September, according to the National Weather Service

"These storms have really been making a dent in the drought," Weather Service Hydrologist Gary Barbato said. "It may be over in the Sierra and extreme Western Nevada. But as you go east it is still dry."

The snow pack in the Carson Basin was 219 percent of average on Tuesday and had received 147 percent of its moisture since Oct. 1.

He said the higher elevations are tending to have lower snowloads, a result of storms that in some cases left as much snow in the Valleys as on the mountain tops.

At 8,700 feet, the snow is at 180 percent of average, while lower down, just above Markleeville it is at 326 percent of average.

"It is extremely unusual to have as much snow at lower elevations," he said. "I've been here 10 years and I don't think I've ever seen that much snow on the ground up here."

Typically, hydrologists determine the status of a drought from the snowpack on April 1. Barbato said that at Ebbetts Pass, the snow totals are running about 71 percent what they would be in April, if none was added or melted in the interim.

The snow level at Spratt Creek, near Markleeville, is about 230 percent what it would be on April 1.

"The bottom line is that if this keeps up, we'll have a decent run-off year," he said. "But we've still got three months of normally wet weather to go. If those are relatively dry then things will drop back a bit."

Barbato said there is little in the forecast through the end of January that indicates a severe melt-off.

"Depending on how the snow melts, we could expect some kinds of flooding if it continues to pile up," he said. "The worst scenario is if we get a pineapple connection and a real heavy rain up to the mountain tops. Right now we are not seeing anything like that even in the long-range forecasts. People need to keep an eye on things, but if we saw something like that we would put out a bulletin."

Barbato said cold temperatures will help keep the chances of flooding at a minimum.

"It will be below freezing the rest of the week," he said. "As long as temperatures are seasonable and we have a slow melt, we shouldn't have any problems."

Temperatures have been cooler than cool on Wednesday and Thursday, according to R-C weather watcher Stan Kapler.

He reported a low temperatures of -1 on Wednesday and -4 on Thursday.