Lahontan Reservoir shows slight improvement over 2021 measurements
Jeff Anderson, a hydrologist with the Natural Resource Conservation Service, takes the April SNOTEL (Snow Telemetry) site reading at Mount Rose Summit.
This week’s snow in the Sierra Nevada and rain in the valleys provided a small dent in the moisture content for the Carson Basin, which includes the Lahontan Reservoir and the downriver farming in Churchill County. The level at Lahontan Reservoir has slightly improve with 147,187 acre-feet recorded earlier in the week. This compares to 129,125 acre-feet in 2021. In January, the reading showed the reservoir with 77,356 acre-feet. Compared to the record water year in 2017, the reservoir was at 236,853 acre-feet. One acre-foot equals about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover an acre of land one-foot deep. Lahontan Reservoir holds 308,000 acre-feet. A spokesperson for the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District said Monday the agency began taking water orders for the Carson Division in mid-March and is currently delivering water to its users. The Truckee Division began taking orders earlier this month, and water is now being delivered.
The April SNOTEL (Snow Telemetry) site near the Mount Rose Summit marked the driest January-March ever measured by SNOTEL sites around Nevada. According to the Natural Resource Conservation Service, the Carson Basin snowpack is at 51% of normal, and has been melting faster than previous years. In the eastern Sierra region, most SNOTEL sites recorded 1-4 inches of precipitation over three months, significantly lower than their usual 10-30 inches from January to March. Across the region, Jeff Anderson, a hydrologist for the NRCS, said about 85 SNOTELS — 50 positioned across Nevada and 35 in the eastern Sierra — electronically record precipitation and water content each hour based on the weight of snow placed on a fluid-filled bladder. He said each basin has about eight SNOTEL sites, most of them located at different elevations. The April report from NRCS also noted that runoff from the snow melt will force streams to reach their peak volume earlier in the year. Anderson measured Mount Rose’s snowpack more than two weeks ago and found that it had 24.2 inches of water content. The water content of the snowpack peaked on March 21 at 28.2 inches, but it usually peaks closer to April 15 at 37.4 inches. The area’s water content, though, was helped by heavy rains in October and several good snowstorms at the end of December. The U.S. Drought Monitor for Nevada shows extreme drought conditions for most of Nye, Lincoln and Clark counties and eastern Elko County. Exception drought conditions are affecting most of northeastern Nye County. Carson City, Lyon and Churchill counties remain in severe drought. Across Northern Nevada, snow melt is nine days ahead of 2021 and 24 days ahead of 2020. Representatives with the NRCS encouraged farmers and ranchers to use one of their Farm Bills programs to access financial assistance. For information, visit https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/nv/programs/farmbill/. Steve Ranson with the Lahontan Valley News assisted with this report.
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