A wet storm coming into California January 22 is boosting rainfall totals in the midstate and in the Sierra where snowpack is starting to build for the first time in the water year.But we have a ways to go can be seen by a few charts here.
Mammoth ski resorts is reporting new snow falling this week, but compare the current snowpack to last year and the difference is huge.
Of course, last year was a record what year with almost 400 inches of snow falling in Mammoth by the end of January 2023. So far this year through January 22, Mammoth has received about 86 inches of snow.
In the southern Sierra on the western slope at Giant Forest, precip so far this season is only 7 inches compared to 45 inches this time in January 2023. For the water year Giant Forest got a near record 92 inches of precipitation.
It’s a little better in Northern California at Shasta Reservoir where they have received about 25 inches for precip so far this water year compared to 40 this time last year, of course a record year for rain. We are about in the same place at Shasta Reservoir as it was in January 2020 and 2021. Some good news is that water storage in California’s largest reservoir at 3.3 million acre feet is more than it has been at this time for the past three years with good prospects ahead for a wet February.
Speaking of good news, here is the NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s 8 to 14 day forecast for California showing wet weather across all California through Feb 4.
