Western Snowpack Starting to Build

Western Snowpack Starting to Build

I’m KayDee Gilkey with today’s Open Range.

Many mountains in the West are starting to accumulate snowpack for the season. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey shares

Rippy: “If you look at the Sierra Nevada it is sort of a bell weather for the western water supply situation. We have picked up on the order of about 5 inches of liquid in the form of snowfall at the high evalution. Meanwhile some of the low elevation stations have picked up anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of rainfall. We would have loved to turn that ratio over and brought that the 8 to 12 inches liquid up into the mountains.”

Considering that five inches of snow pack is one-sixth the desired amount of by end of the snow season in April to provide irrigation to western crops. He says by and large.

Rippey: “It’s a good start but we need a lot storminess like that and we’d like to see colder storms as we move through the winter in California and the rest of the West.”

He shares the weather forecast for next week.

Rippey: “Looking ahead to week two: December 11 to the 17th, we are looking at some colder conditions in parts of the country specifically across the Northwest, into the Northern Plains, the Upper Mid-west. A lot of the reminder of the country should see fairly mild conditions, maybe not as warm as it has been but still on the mild side for mid-December. In terms of rain and snowfall pattern, we expect a more active weather pattern in most areas east of the Rockies and some of the heaviest snow could fall in the Northern Plains, Upper Mid-west and perhaps into the Northeast.”