November 22, 2024

Sierra’s Surprise Snowpack Surge: 26+ Inches of Snow in One Day

Satellite image of Californias Sierra Nevada Mountains obtained on May 3, 2024, by NASAs Terra satellite.Satellite image of Californias snowy Sierra Nevada Mountains gotten on May 5, 2024, by NASAs Terra satellite.A May storm disposed over two feet of snow in one day on parts of the California mountain range.While spring was springing throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere, Californias Sierra Nevada still looked really much like winter in early May 2024. A weather condition station at Donner Pass determined 26.4 inches (67 centimeters) of snowfall on May 5, marking the snowiest day there in the 2023-2024 season.The system of damp weather condition had mostly cleared the area when the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASAs Terra satellite acquired an image (right) of the snowy Sierras at 11 a.m. local time (18:00 Universal Time) on May 5. In between February 28 and March 3, a climatic river and a winter season storm provided extensive precipitation to the western U.S. and dropped an estimated 4 to 10 feet (1 to 3 meters) of snow in the Northern and Central Sierras.Following the May snowfall, the California Department of Water Resources reported that the snow water equivalent was above average in the Northern Sierra, close to average in the main part of the variety, and listed below average in the southern portion.NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS information from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.