Dan's Outside

The Great California Blizzard of '08

Although I was in the Pacific Northwest and therefor managed to miss most of it – except for flying through an astonishing snow squall while on approach to SJC – the recent California storm was one for the record books… or maybe not quite. The following article includes some amazing information about Sierra snowfall totals in earlier years:

Blizzard of ’08 leaves 11 feet of snow in the Sierras. The blizzard of ’08 is over in hard-hit California, Oregon, and Washington, but the storm has left in its wake flooding, downed power lines, and prodigious amounts of snow. In the Sierra Mountains, 4-8 feet of snow were common. At the Kirkwood ski resort near Lake Tahoe, an astounding 11 feet of snow fell in just 72 hours–10 feet of that in only 48 hours.Figure 1. Cleared tracks on the Southern Pacific Railway at Blue Canyon during the winter of 1917. Some of the h…
Read More [Dr. Jeff Masters’ WunderBlog]

Click the title link to read the whole article.

If nothing else, this set of New Years storms has reduced the immediate concerns about another drought year in California. Last year was extremely dry, especially in the southern part of the state, and I would hate to see another summer like that one.

January 7, 2008 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary, Environment