Why is this year so dry?

[mxoyez]

The snowpack this winter was better than last winter (53%), and far better than 2015 (10%) yet it's so much dryer than anything in the past. Does anyone know why?

[c9h13no3]

In a nutshell:

- This La Nina year was quite poor for the southern areas of the state, where most of the Sierra is.
- The spring was dry and warm, despite a reasonable snowpack on April 1st.
- The snow we did have was cold and light, and blown off of much of the high mountains by various wind events.

The first two points are pretty clearly illustrated in the graph below. The red line (2020), you can clearly see the spring snow pack actually increased after April 1st. While in 2021, it barely snowed in April or May.

It isn't as bad out there as 2015, *that* was a ridiculous year. But we had a slightly dry winter with a really warm & dry spring.

2020_vs_2021.PNG

The chart above you can find here.

[mxoyez]

Thank you for the explanation, I really appreciate it!

[SSSdave]

Generally dry dry true but gradually different north versus south and somewhat variable as always. The norther Sierra looks drier than it is due to the dry March April and May. Over decades I've experienced a whole lot of variable weather. A good way to understand where we are at this point is to go to Sentinel Hub and on the 10km scale (window lower right) quickly mouse drag SE down the range where only 2 zones have much snow. Glacier Divide thru Palisades modestly white along crest. But far more white that was obvious in WD's recent trip photos is The Ritter Range did well especially during the huge end of January storm during the winter and during the numbers of small cold storms this winter. Mono Cr, Fish Cr. Piute Cr basins have much less than normal snow left.

RitterR-SH-6-20-21.jpg

SFSANJ-SH-62021.jpg

[mxoyez]

Generally dry dry true but gradually different north versus south and somewhat variable as always. The norther Sierra looks drier than it is due to the dry March April and May. Over decades I've experienced a whole lot of variable weather. A good way to understand where we are at this point is to go to Sentinel Hub and on the 10km scale (window lower right) quickly mouse drag SE down the range where only 2 zones have much snow. Glacier Divide thru Palisades modestly white along crest. But far more white that was obvious in WD's recent trip photos is The Ritter Range did well especially during the huge end of January storm during the winter and during the numbers of small cold storms this winter. Mono Cr, Fish Cr. Piute Cr basins have much less than normal snow left.

RitterR-SH-6-20-21.jpg

SFSANJ-SH-62021.jpg

Thanks for the clarification, that makes sense. So is the northern sierra doing better than the southern overall?

[c9h13no3]

Thanks for the clarification, that makes sense. So is the northern sierra doing better than the southern overall?

Correct. The northern Sierra gets more snow on average, but it's an even bigger difference than usual this year.