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Amid claims of a “permanent” era of drought in California driven by so-called climate change, the Sierra Nevada region has smashed an all-time record for December snowfall that has lasted for more than 50 years. The UC-Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory has confirmed that 214 inches of snow fell on the region in December annihilating the previous record of 179 inches set in 1970.
“One last inch fell over the last 24 hours (prior to 4pm yesterday). The record for our snowiest December on record at the lab is now 214″ (544 cm),” the snow lab announced on January 1.
“It is definitely a ton of snow. And we actually wound up with about 214 inches total for the month of December, which is nearly 18 feet. And that is now our snowiest December on record. We had had the previous December back in 1970 as the snowiest on record with 179 inches,” Andrew Schwartz, the station manager for the UC-Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, told NPR. “So we definitely blew that record out of the water, to say the least. And it’s terrific considering that, you know, roughly a week to a week and a half into December, we still had bare soil, bare ground up here.”
Schwartz is hoping for even more snow to follow in order to beef up California’s water supply for the drier spring and summer months ahead.
“We definitely want the snowpack to hang around as much as possible and for more of it to accrue. The drought that we’re — that we’ve been in out here has been so severe that we really need as much snow as we can get,” Scwarttz said. “There’s not really a limit on how much we want. But this is an absolutely terrific start to the season, for sure.”
The California Department of Water Resources, which has tracked snowfall in the region since 1920, confirms that this season, which began on October 1, is currently tracking as the second-wettest season on record along with the 1982-83 season. The wettest season on record — 2016-2017 — was also quite recent.
Earlier in the season, Department of Water officials were warning that water levels in the Sierra Nevada region and throughout all of California were “dangerously low,” with officials urging water rationing throughout the state.
But the recent winter weather has caused snowfall in the state to be at between 145 percent and 161 percent of normal levels, with even more snow expected to come. Melting snowpack from the Sierra Nevada region is a primary source of fresh water to the state. In a normal year, up to 30 percent of California’s fresh water comes from the snowpack. On average, the snowpack has been down in the past two years overall.
With certain scientists telling us that California is heading for a state of near-permanent drought due to climate change, it’s hard to believe that the wettest December in recorded history and the wettest season ever recorded have both occurred in the last decade when we’re supposed to be seeing the long-term effects of human carbon-dioxide emissions.
California, with its largely Mediterranean climate, will always be susceptible to drier periods with its dry, hot summers and cool, wet winters. The effects of the La Niña/El Niño in the Pacific Ocean also play havoc on the coastal state. La Niña means colder water in the Pacific, pushes the jetstream to the north, and can lead to drier weather in California and throughout the southern United States.
Yet climate hysterics would have you believe that nothing about drought conditions in California are due to natural factors. In line with their political agenda, they’ll always blame mankind for the weather — whatever that weather might be.
