Water level and snow pack still below normal In spite of record storms that kicked off 2008

By Andrew Pridgen

Appeal Staff Writer

By the end of the first week of February, weather service officials said 2008 snowpack and water levels were already 140 percent of normal; the drought-busting winter seemed to be surpassing all expectations.

What a difference three weeks makes.

Wednesday, as the first of three expected Pacific systems crept out of Carson City around noon, weather service officials reported snowpack levels in the Sierra were now below normal.

Local water levels such as those of the Carson and Truckee rivers were faring even worse.

Such is the fickle way of Mother Nature.

"It's not by any means time to panic, we're still doing OK," said Rhett Milne, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Reno. "We've got plenty of winter left and we're still doing well.

"In order to keep the pace we were on, we'd have to have been getting a quarter inch of precipitation a day."

As of Wednesday morning, the Carson River was flowing 79 percent of normal, but better news lies in the hills, Milne said. In the Sierra, snowpack is still 97 percent of normal.

"That's a good sign," he said. "We've been getting pretty cold snow that has stayed up there - so that'll help with the overall snowpack."

The recent break in storms has given NDOT crews time to "catch up," spokesman Scott Magruder said Wednesday.

"It seemed like we were out there every day or every other day since January," he said. "The last few weeks we got a chance to sweep up a lot of things that were there; sand, salt - even had a chance to fix up a little damage to the road and do some striping. It was a nice break."

With a pair of storms on the immediate horizon, Magruder said crews are "standing by" to work through the weekend.

"The good news is we're getting near the end of the snow season," he said. "There's no more holidays so traffic should go down.

"But people should remember that March has some of the biggest storms on record. So it's really good that we've had time to get ahead, make sure roads are clear and drainage doesn't back up."

Indeed, weather service spokesman Milne said the pair of storms on the horizon should be "impressive."

"We'll have another small storm Thursday and Friday which may drop a few inches of snow up at lake level," he said. "Then it'll get a bit colder and the big storm may start as rain on the valley floors Saturday night and switch over to snow (in Carson) Sunday morning.

"The big story's going to be in the Sierra with a foot (of snow) at lake level and as much as three feet above 7,000 feet."

Milne said the storms should ebb by Monday morning.

NDOT's Magruder confirmed crews would be working around-the-clock this weekend to keep the roads clear.

"I think we've done a phenomenal job so far this winter keeping the roads open and we don't plan to let up," he said. "We've had a couple closures, but overall - keeping roads open has been a testament to hard work."

As the latest storms peel off, meteorologist Milne said there may be a bit of a dryer spill, but March could be "anyone's guess."

"These storms could put us right back up at normal," he said. "And then, March is always an interesting month."

• Contact reporter Andrew Pridgen at apridgen@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.