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Weather in the Sierras: dry now, but who knows what the season will hold

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 30, 2007 at 7:45 am

From the Tahoe Bonanza:

With Thursday’s snowpack at 4 percent of average and Lake Tahoe two feet lower than last year at this time, the calendar year 2007 is in the running to be the second driest winter for weather records. However, weather in the Sierra is always a wild ride. “We’re definitely way, way down. If December got zero precipitation, which would really be amazing in Tahoe, this would be the second driest year in 70 years (for Reno),” said Jim Ashby, climatologist with the Western Regional Climate Center in Reno’s Desert Research Institute.

The driest year was 1976 with 9.34 inches of precipitation recorded at Lake Tahoe’s only outlet, the Truckee River in Tahoe City. Right now, 14.71 inches has been recorded in Tahoe City for the year – the long-term average is 32.6 inches of precipitation. But as weather watchers warn, you never know in the Sierra. The average precipitation in Tahoe City for December is 5.66 inches; however in 1989, there was 0 inches and in 1964, there were 27.55 inches in the wettest month of Tahoe City data going back 94 years.

“The point is, it could happen, it could be a monster month,” Ashby said.

To read the rest of this article from the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, click here.

November 30, 2007 · Filed Under Lake Tahoe & the Sierra's

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