Sierra Nevada Snowpack Is at 500-Year Low Amid ‘Snow Drought’: Study

An inch of patchy snow is all that remains on the ground at Glacier Point as trials in the area are mostly snow-free on Jan. 23, 2015, in Yosemite National Park. (Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Sep 14, 2015 / 10:02 AM PDT

Updated: Sep 14, 2015 / 10:02 AM PDT

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When California Gov. Jerry Brown stood in a snowless Sierra Nevada meadow on April 1 and ordered unprecedented water restrictions because of the drought, it was the first spring in 75 years of observation that the area lacked snow.

Now, six months later, researchers say this year’s record-low snowpack may be far more historic — and ominous — than previously realized.

In a paper published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, scientists estimate that the recent Sierra Nevada snowpack was the lowest it has been in more than 500 years.

“We were expecting that 2015 would be extreme, but not like this,” said senior study author Valerie Trouet, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Arizona.

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