You never know how much snow will fall in the Sierra Nevada
RENO, Nevada (AP) — When pioneers were trapped atop the Sierra Nevada for months during the winter of 1846-1847, dozens died near Lake Tahoe, the infamous Donner Party No one knows how much snow fell.
But this season has gone down in the history books as the second-most snowfall in the Central Sierra Snow Lab’s 77-year record-holding.
And there is still a chance of breaking the record of 67.7 feet (812 inches, 20.6 meters) set in 1951-1952. In this record, more than 200 passengers on his luxury train from Chicago to San Francisco were stranded near Donner’s pass west of San Francisco for his three days. Truckee, California.
Over the weekend, a “winter that doesn’t want to end,” said the National Weather Service in Reno, surpassed the previous second record of 55.9 feet (651 inches, 17 meters) set in 1982-83. It was the second in a series of Blizzard Buster seasons most remembered for the March 31, 1982 avalanche that killed seven people at a ski resort in Tahoe.
Since December, a series of atmospheric storms have brought heavy snowfall to the Sierras, Tahoe ski resorts have been forced to close multiple times.
The final day of the Nevada High School Ski Championships has been cancelled. The roof collapsed under the weight of the snow and the school was closed for days. Interstate 80 has been closed several times between Reno and Sacramento.
“It started early and seems to continue,” said Eric Sage, 45, of Sparks, who has shoveled through many big winters growing up in Truckee. — Wham, wham, wham.”
The official recordkeeper is UC-Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, established in 1946 northwest of Lake Tahoe, Soda Springs, California.
“Other years, and years with higher total snow cover, have seen bigger storms…but this season’s relentlessness may be the most unique reason.” said Andrew Schwartz, the lab’s manager and principal scientist.
More snow is forecast for the next 10 days, but who knows what will happen spring brings.
“Historically, some of our big seasons were active all the way through late spring,” said Tim Bardsley, senior hydrologist at the National Weather Service in Reno.
official winter season match A water year that starts on October 1st and ends on the next September 30th. In the Sierra he can keep snowing in June.
This winter would have to drop another 145 inches (368 cm) to overtake the 1951-52 record.
“There’s basically nothing to indicate we’re going in the opposite direction because we’ve been so active,” Bardsley said. “I think the opposite is more likely to be true.” You can say that,” he said.
Some of the snowiest winters have been recorded for at least a quarter of the season since March 15th. The 4th snowiest winter of 2010-2011 received 225 inches (572 cm) of a total of 643 inches (1,635 cm) — or 35% — since March 15.
The Snow Lab has records dating back to 1880 based on measurements by the Southern Pacific Railroad. These unofficial measurements taken near where the train was stuck in 1952 suggest that there may have been more snow in 1938, and in 1880 and 1890 may have had about the same amount of snow.
These figures are from slightly different locations using different methodologies, so the lab is not officially aware of them.
Mark McLaughlin, who has authored several books on the history and weather of the Sierra in the Tahoe area, accepts railroad figures, saying that the snow that fell on the Donner Party in 1846-47 was less than the snow that fell on the Donner Party in 1951-1952. I think it’s similar to falling snow.
During the first two weeks of November 1846, ten great storms brought rain and snow to the mountains. A memorial at Donner Memorial State Park shows that the snow depth reached her 22.5 feet (6.9 meters) before some of the stranded people resorted to cannibalism.
The winter of 1982-83 was when Tahoe’s worst avalanche hit the Alpine Valley south of Truckee, just after its current No. 3 ranked season. About 90 inches (228 cm) of snow fell in the four days leading up to the disaster.
The 1960 Winter Olympics, first televised, put Lake Tahoe on the map as the world became aware of the snow-capped mountains and turquoise waters surrounding the alpine lake. However, winter itself got off to a slow start, with Olympic officials panicking in the weeks leading up to the Games.
“There was no real snow by New Year’s Day and the Olympics were looming in the third week of February,” McLaughlin said. “Then the storm doors opened and it snowed and snowed. There was too much snow for anyone to practice skiing on the mountain.”
The parents of author Peggy Townsend and her husband, professional skier Cody Townsend, were overwhelmed by a pile of snow last month when they arrived at their cabin in the Olympic Valley area near the base of Tahoe’s ski resort. They had to park in the road and dig through 3 meters (10 feet) of snow.
“I had to dig three or four times a day just to get to the woodpile,” said Peggy Townsend. After 4 days they had enough to eat.
“When the snow broke, we just said, ‘Get out of there,'” she recalls.
https://www.ksby.com/news/california-news/no-telling-how-much-more-snow-coming-for-sierra-nevada You never know how much snow will fall in the Sierra Nevada