California's Sugar Bowl Ski Resort Closing in on 800 Inches of Snow This Season

Brian Donegan
Published: April 17,2017

One ski resort in California's northern Sierra Nevada is closing in on 800 inches of snow in what has become the all-time wettest "water year," there. Through April 16, Sugar Bowl Resort had measured 777 inches of total snow for the 2016-17 season after a couple inches of fresh powder accumulated at the summit Easter Sunday.
This is 277 inches above Sugar Bowl's seasonal average of 500 inches.
(MORE: California's Northern Sierra Nevada Surpasses All-Time Wettest 'Water Year')

Other resorts in the region had also measured at least 700 inches of seasonal snow through April 16, including Mt. Rose (757 inches), Boreal (738 inches), Northstar (704 inches) and webcams/squaw-valley-snowfall-tracker" target="_blank">Squaw Valley (700 inches).
The 700 inches at Squaw Valley is webcams/squaw-valley-snowfall-tracker" target="_blank">250 inches above average and nearly as much snowfall as it received the past two winters combined (718 inches).
We know these numbers seem high, but they're nowhere near the seasonal snowfall record for the United States of 1,140 inches, set during the 1998-99 snow season at Mount Baker Ski Area in Washington state, located 4,200 feet above sea level.
(MORE: The Heaviest Snowfall Records in the U.S.)
For comparison, the summit of Sugar Bowl Resort sits at 8,383 feet above sea level, nearly double the elevation of Mount Baker.

Record-Wet Water Year in California's Northern Sierra Nevada

California's northern Sierra Nevada surpassed its all-time wettest water year after the latest barrage of stormy weather hit the mountain range the week before Easter.
The water year in California runs from October through September, with the majority of precipitation falling from November through March. Each spring, the melted snowpack from the Sierra supplies water to much of California.
(MORE: The Most Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters on Record for a First Quarter)

Snow piled feet high at Donner Summit, California, on April 14, 2017.
(Brenda Bennett Price/Facebook)

As of April 17, the northern Sierra had recorded an accumulated average of 90.9 inches of water across eight stations since Oct. 1, according to the California Department of Water Resources. This breaks the previous record of 88.5 inches, set during the 1982-83 water year.
This is 208 percent of average for April 17. An average water year has 50 inches of precipitation.
Oct. 1 through March 31 was the wettest such period on record in Sacramento, California, South Lake Tahoe, California, and Reno, Nevada, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center. In the Northwest, this six-month period was also the wettest in Spokane, Washington, Pocatello, Idaho, Lewiston, Idaho, Kalispell, Montana, and Sheridan, Wyoming.
(MORE: Where Winter 2016-17 Ranked)
Typically, when April arrives, the chance of big storm systems bringing heavy rain and mountain snow decreases in California. However, given this now record-wet water year, it likely comes as no surprise April's weather pattern has remained active.
The water content in the snowpack throughout much of the West remains well above average. As of Monday, a portion of the northern Sierra was more than 300 percent of average for the date, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service SNOTEL Network.
When examining snow-water equivalent for the northern, central and southern Sierra, all areas are more than 175 percent of average for April 17, ranging from 44 to 53 inches of water, according to the California Cooperative Snow Surveys.
(MORE: 7-Day Rain/Snow Forecast)
Additionally, many reservoirs continue to run above average as of April 17, including Lake Oroville, Lake Shasta, San Luis Reservoir and Pyramid Lake.
This wet year's snowpack is quite a change from the past four years, when drought prevailed across California and left residents with low water supplies and increased water-use restrictions.
(MORE: 8 Reasons Why Rain Is a Big Deal in Southern California)

MORE: Storms Hit California – February 2017

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