So Much Snow in California, Scientists Don’t Have Tools to Measure It

The unusually heavy rain this season has contributed to record levels of snow in California. In particular the Sierra Nevada Mountains received so much snowpack that scientists could not measure the depth of the snow. Hydrologists had some trouble reaching the ground below the snowpack with an aluminum pole, which is more than 16 feet in length, on the Slide Mountain SNOTEL data site at Mount Rose Ski Tahoe near Reno, Nevada. USA Today is reporting:

Statewide, the California snowpack is at an estimated 185% of normal for the date.

In fact, there’s more snow now than there usually is on April 1, when the snowpack tends to peak.

This is great news for both California and Nevada, which have experienced record levels droughts the past couple of years. Hydrologists were eventually able to measure the snowpack at the Slide Mountain SNOTEL data site and determined that the snowpack is almost 18 feet deep, or 212 inches deep to be precise. They were also able to calculate that the water content there is more than six feet.