Watershed Special Threats or Challenges: Snowpacks

 Watershed Special Threats or Challenges: Snowpacks


Snowpacks:

The snowpacks on top of mountains is important for California. It provides a third of California's water supply. The snow helps with the ground water and fills the reservoirs. The warmer the weather is though, the faster and earlier the snow will melt which can make things difficult during the dry season. It is predicted that the snowpack will decrease by a third in 2050 and by a half in 2100.  

There are things that can cause the snowpacks to start disappearing such as fire, tall mountains, and climate change (rising temperatures). 

The amount of fires have increased over the years, the heat intensity has also increased. This could further cause a crisis during drought seasons. In 2020, there was a recorded amount of 10,000 fires which resulted in four million acres being burnt. The fires also seem to be concentrated in upper watersheds. 

Mountains can be bad and good for snowfall. They are colder, but it also has an increase in precipitation from the moist air being forced to rise and drop. This could result in blizzards, and this could cause an issue in low-lying areas. Tourist attractions are a big part of the economy. One of the attractions in California is skiing in the mountains. Unfortunately, when a blizzard deposits ten feet or more of snow, it will cause the resort to close for safety. This results in lost money. This happened to the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort where they were closed for four days. Another thing that mountains do is cause snow to last for longer periods of time. The Central Sierra Nevada keeps the snow until around June timeframe. Due to all of these crucial things mountains do for snowpacks, a mountain snowpack does play a crucial role in the hydrology of the region. It is a natural reservoir. It stores during the summer/spring while distributing the water during the summer. 

Climate change has multiple different effects on the world. For snowpacks, the main effect would be the rising temperatures. As the temperature increases the snow line will be moved to higher altitudes. This results in more rain over snowfall. This will result in struggles during the summer months since California relies on snowfall for runoff for drinking water and irrigation. The climate models shows that snowfall will decrease everywhere except in the Sierras highest summits. Another thing that higher temperatures will do is cause the snowpacks to melt more rapidly. This can cause issues such as increased snowmelt in late winter which will cause flooding, and during summer, there will be minimal water left since it all melted in late winter. 

Climate change also has an effect on sea level rise. The sea level rising can bring salt water into Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. This is a water supply source that provides water to over 25 million Californians. It also supplies for millions of acres of farmland. In order to keep the salt water out of the delta, more freshwater has to be pushed through. This will decrease the amount of water available. 





Above is a chart of all the years of snowpack percent average going back to the 1950s. One can see that every year the percentage of snow changes. In 2023, we had a good year, where the reservoirs was at a 100% capacity due to the large amount of snowfall. It was recorded that there was 10.5 feet of snow depth, which is 200% above the average. Back in 2015 though, there was  a very low amount of snowfall. It was at 5%. This was the first year since 1942 of no snow after April 1st. Due to this, the Governor signed an executive order that mandated that water be reduced across the state by 25%. Below is a graph that shows dark blue as 2024 projection, thin blue as 2023, and red as 2015. 



These snow graphs displayed above are very important for California. Snow surveys measure both the depth and the density so that when it melts, they can determine how much liquid they will get. This program where they measure the snow is called Snow Water Equivalent, and it was established in 1929 by the state legislature. There are more than 260 manual and electric snow surveys that take place throughout California. Snow surveys are also used by farmers to determine what planting pattern they should use, determine their groundwater pumping needs and to plan their irrigation. If it is a dry year, the farmers have more complications with their crops since they have to use less water. The reservoir operators also use the data to determine and manage the flood risks. It will allow them to maintain reservoir levels by forecasting the inflows. 

Snowpacks are also very important because it allows for a more sustainable way of using electricity. California utilizes hydropower to reduce fossil fuel use, but during the dry years, California has to use nuclear energy and fossil fuels. 


Resources: 

  • California-Nevada Drought Status Update. (2024). NIDIS. https://www.drought.gov/drought-status-updates/california-nevada-drought-status-update-2024-04-15#:~:text=Snowpack%20typically%20acts%20as%20a,a%20challenge%20for%20drought%20planning.&text=Periods%20of%20drought%20can%20lead,safety%2C%20and%20welfare%20of%20communities.
  • Climate Change and Water. (2024). California Department of Water Resources. https://water.ca.gov/Programs/All-Programs/Climate-Change-Program/Climate-Change-and-Water#:~:text=projected%20California%20snowpack.-,Snowpack,on%20water%20supply%20for%20Californians.
  • Four reasons why you should care about California snow. (2024). Union of concerned scientists. https://blog.ucsusa.org/pablo-ortiz/four-reasons-you-should-care-about-california-snow/#:~:text=Of%20course%2C%20to%20protect%20water,Pablo%20Ortiz%2DPartida.
  • OBSERVED CHANGES IN THE SIERRA NEVADA SNOWPACK: POTENTIAL CAUSES AND CONCERNS. (2009). California Climate Change Center. https://featherriver.org/_db/files/367_CA_impacts_to_sierra_snowpack_CEC-500-2009-016-F.pdf
  • Snow-water content. (2024). OEHHA. https://oehha.ca.gov/climate-change/epic-2022/impacts-physical-systems/snow-water-content#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20monitoring%20of%20snow,produced%20during%20very%20cold%20snowstorms.
  • Summary of projected climate change impacts on California. (2024). California Climate Adaptation Strategy. https://climateresilience.ca.gov/overview/impacts.html#:~:text=The%20snowpack%20in%20California's%20mountains,if%20precipitation%20levels%20remain%20stable.
  • Understanding End-of-century snowpack changes over California Sierra Nevada. (2018). Geophysical Research letters. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2018GL080362
  • Why is this years average California snowpack is no reason for celebration. (2024). Climate California. https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2024-04-06/californias-snowpack-is-no-reason-for-celebration

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