water resources

PHILLIPS STATIONS, Calif. - The Sierra snow pack was measured at 93 percent of average on Thursday at Phillips Station, west of Lake Tahoe, the first of the winter 2020 snow pack surveys.

A team from California Department of Water Resources (DWR) found 30.5 inches of snow with 10.5 inches of snow water equivalent (SWE).

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Long after the fire trucks have come and gone, the threat to a community impacted by wildfire remains. It’s a less obvious threat than a towering inferno destroying homes and ripping through forests and hillsides. It is a hidden threat that arrives with winter rains and California Conservation Corps Corpsmembers are helping communities stay safe from it—toxic runoff, including those from the South Lake Tahoe center.

California’s Water Year 2020 has come to a close and while parts of Southern California experienced above average precipitation, Northern California was mostly dry.

The water year ended below average and further demonstrated the impact of climate change on the state’s water supply, according to a report released by the Department of Water Resources (DWR).

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - This week's Drought Monitor shows much of the West in some level of drought. Lake Tahoe, the Sierra, and Western Nevada are all in a "moderate drought" stage with no end in the immediate future.

The 90-day outlook shows higher than average temperatures and lower than average precipitation, neither of which is good to break out of a drought.

Following below-average precipitation most of the winter, May storms delivered 181 percent of average in the Northern Sierra for this time of year, but the results aren't showing enough to remove the area from drought.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The precipitation of March did not do enough to boost the snowpack in the Sierra to high figures, but it did give surveyors better figures than the 47 percent of average one month ago. The manual measurement of the snowpack at Phillips Station near Sierra-at-Tahoe showed the snow depth was 43.5 inches with a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 16.5 inches. This is 66 percent of the April 1 average at that location southwest of Lake Tahoe.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted the second manual snow survey of the season at Phillips Station Thursday, and they found 40.5 inches of snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) of 14.5 inches. The snowpack at this location is 79 percent of the February average, with the rest of the state measuring in at 73 percent of average.

The Phillips Station total is 58 percent of the seasonal average.

"It's decent but below average," said Sean de Guzman, chief of DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted the first manual snow survey of the season at Phillips Station Thursday, and they found 33.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 11 inches. The snowpack at this location is 97 percent of average, with the Sierra as a whole at 90 percent of average.

ALPINE COUNTY, Calif. - "Pristine pure premium quality drinking water is freely
available to all in Alpine County," said Dr. Richard O. Johnson, the Alpine County Health Officer.

With warming temperatures and melting snow, Douglas County is reminding residents of the potential for some minor spring flooding in the months to come. With the spring run-off, citizens could expect to see some road closures on arterial roads such as Mottsville, Centerville Lane, Muller Lane and Genoa Lane.

In preparation for flooding, the Douglas County Stormwater Division has been removing flood debris in river channels with the Carson Valley Conservation District, Carson Water Subconservancy and Nevada Division of Water Resources.

At a price tag of $150 million, the California legislature is considering a bill that, if approved, would change the way the Sierra snowpack is measured each year.

For 90 years the snowpack has been measured at several locations including Phillips, just west of Lake Tahoe. Normally performed in front of media, staff from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) snowshoe into a spot where they stick a pole into the snow to measure the depth and water content of the snow.

PHILLIPS, Calif. - The numbers weren't much of a surprise Thursday as the Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted the third Phillips Station snow survey of 2019.

What they found in the spot they've been using to measure since 1941 was good news.

The manual measurement recorded 113 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 43.5 inches, which is more than double what was recorded last month at this location.

Statewide, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is 153 percent of average for this date, thanks to several atmospheric rivers during February.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - While the snowpack isn't epic in measurement (yet), it rose above normal with this past two week's storms that brought five feet of snow to the upper elevations.

During the January 3, 2019 monthly measurement of the snow and its water content at Phillips near Sierra-at-Tahoe, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) found the snow to be at 80 percent of normal. The prior year at the same time was a dismal three percent of normal.

PHILLIPS, Calif. - It was a much different picture of the Sierra snowpack today than what there was a year ago when the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted their first monthly measurement of the snow and water content at Phillips Station, ten miles west of Lake Tahoe.

As of January 3, 2019, DWR measured the snow at 25.5 inches deep, which means the Sierra snowpack is 80 percent of normal with a snow water equivalent (SWE) of nine inches. These figures are 36 percent of the April 1 average, the date used as the maximum snowpack that will be received in the mountains.

The following is a Letter to the Editor from South Tahoe Public Utility District Board Member Jim Jones, a candidate for re-election:

To the Community:

PHILLIPS STATION, CALIF. - In 2017, the water content on March 1 at Phillips Station was measured at 185 percent of normal. One year later it is a different story, but much better than just a week ago.

The water content of the snow measured at Phillips Station on March 5, 2018 is 39 percent of the historical average with the 41.1" snow at the measuring spot 14 miles west of Lake Tahoe containing a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 9.4".

The SWE is the amount of water that would come out of the snow if melted all at once.

Even with the recent snowfall, the monthly measurement of the snowpack at Phillip Station west of Lake Tahoe was just 14 percent of the historical average. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) manual snow survey found little snowpack there, two months into what is typically California’s wettest three months.

Measurements at Phillips Station revealed a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 2.6 inches at Phillips as measured there since 1964. SWE is the depth of water that theoretically would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously.

Snow was hard to find Wednesday during the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) first measurement of the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada this winter.

Snowpack is off to a slow start, with just 3 percent of average found at Phillips Station, The measurement January 3 revealed a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 0.4 inches. The average is 11.3 inches in early January at Phillips, as measured there since 1964. It's elevation is 6,873 feet and located at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe Road.

Monday was the final manual snow survey at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada, and the snowpack is still measured at a healthy 190 percent of the May 1 long-term average of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) which is 14.6 inches. Today's measurement was 27.8 inches.

The survey was conducted by the Department of Water Resources (DWR).

The Sierra Nevada snowpack continues to build during one of the wettest winters in California’s recorded history and this was evident as the monthly snow survey was conducted by the Department of Water Resources at Phillips Station near Sierra-at-Tahoe.

The snow water equivalent (SWE) measured was 179 percent of average, or 43.4 inches.

The 113 inches of snow at Phillips Station contains the fifth-highest March 1 reading of the SWE. In 1969, the record reading was 57.4 inches of snow-water content in 160.9 inches of water.

South Lake Tahoe, Calif. - The weekend's heavy snowfall didn't do enough to bring good news during Tuesday's monthly manual snowpack survey at Phillips Station.

Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, led a media tour on January 3, 2017 to their normal spot near the turnoff to Sierra-at-Tahoe and found a snow water equivalent of six inches, which is 5.3 inches less that the average early-January total of 11.3 inches, 53 percent of normal.

Vail Resorts has called on the United States Congress to approve the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act of 2015. This Act provides $415 million in funding and reauthorizes important Lake Tahoe restoration activities that began in 1997 and refocuses federal, state and local efforts toward reducing wildfire threats, improving water quality and clarity, and combating invasive species. All of these are important to the local economy at one of the most visited lakes in the world.

There was great news from Washington D.C. back on September 14 when the U.S. Senate passed their $415 million version of 2015's Lake Tahoe Restoration Act by a vote of 95-3. It was part of the $10 billion Water Resources Development Act of 2016.

This summer,the Tahoe Keys Property Owners Association (TKPOA) has been both combating aquatic invasive weeds while also testing out methods for future eradication of the pesky plants from their channels. They will be hosting a public meeting to update the community on their ongoing efforts on Tuesday, November 1 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the South Tahoe Public Utility District board room.

At the Lake Tahoe Summit last month, we saw the power of what we can accomplish when we work together. Progress over the last two decades was showcased when President Obama made his first-ever visit to Tahoe and said conservation and restoration efforts like ours are more important than ever as the nation works to adapt to a changing climate and create a more resilient environment.