Winter wonders
Storms bring more rain, snow to Sierra Nevada watersheds
A Monday winter storm brought intermittent spells of gentle rain to downtown Sonora and motivated some people to play in snow along the Highway 4 and Highway 108 corridors, though it was expected to move out east by Tuesday.
The storm was expected to bring 3 to 4 inches of snow to Ebbetts Pass, 6 to 8 inches to Sonora Pass, and 3 to 4 inches to Tioga Pass by late Monday, forecasters with the National Weather Service in Sacramento said.
As of 2 p.m. Monday, storms over the previous 72 hours had brought .44 inch of rain to New Melones Dam; three-quarters of an inch of rain east of Murphys; six-tenths of an inch of rain to Sonora; 0.81 of an inch of rain and/or snow to Twain Harte; and 0.59 inch of rain and/or snow to Groveland, according to observations compiled by the National Weather Service.
A winter weather advisory was in effect through 10 p.m. Monday for elevations above 7,000 feet in an area dubbed the Greater Lake Tahoe Area, as well as the high, northeast edges of Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
A five-station index for the Central Sierra region that includes Calaveras Big Trees and Hetch Hetchy showed Monday that the principal watersheds of Calaveras and Tuolumne counties have received 13.8 inches of precipitation since the current water year started Oct. 1.
That’s 58% of average for the date Feb. 15.
Most of that precipitation — more than 8.8 inches of it — has come in the past three weeks, in late January and the first half of February.
New Melones, the Golden State’s fourthlargest capacity reservoir, was 65 percent full Monday on the Stanislaus River between Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. Don Pedro, the state’s sixth-largest capacity reservoir, was 68 percent full on the Tuolumne River downstream from Hetch Hetchy and its company powerhouse town at Moccasin.
Snowpack sensor observations updated Monday but based on Friday data showed snow water content in the Central Sierra was 55% of the April 1 average and 75% of normal for the date Feb. 15.
Drier weather is expected Tuesday to Thursday. There’s another storm chance for the Central Sierra and Calaveras and Tuolumne counties coming Friday, with potential for more rain and mountain snow.