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Early storms hint at healthy snow pack

Page Last Updated: Monday December 14, 2009 1:52pm PST

Though the official start of winter does not begin until Dec. 21, the northern Nevada area and surrounding Sierra mountains have received plenty of snow.

With several feet blanketing the Sierra Nevada, and nearly a foot still piled on the valley floor some are wondering if the snow will be the answer to the area's drought problems.

"We started building the snow pack, said Dan Greenlee of Natural Resources Conservation Services. "Obviously all the white stuff we've been dealing with on the valley floor is all just great money in the bank right now...excellent start on our water year."

Experts are hoping this year will break a three-year drought cycle that has put Lake Tahoe and other reservoirs well below their normal levels.

Last week's big storm raised the area's average snow pack to about 100 percent for this time of year, but it is still very early to tell whether or not the wet winter will continue.

"It's just too early to tell, Greenlee said. "I've seen it on January 1, being almost 200 percent of average, and end up a drought year, or coming into January 1 with no snow, and ended up a flood year."

Many people say it will be a wet one since it is an El Nino year, which means more precipitation coming from southern California, but there is no guarantee.

"It's kind of hit or miss whether we get a lot of snow out of them or not," said Brian Brong a National Weather Service Meteorologist in Reno. "Some years El Nino produces a lot snow and some years, it produces no snow at all."

Official snow pack numbers won't likely be released until at least January.

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