The Weather and You

Many parts of the US have already seen Spring temperatures in the 90’s.  Last week the Great Lakes, Upper Mid-west and the Northeast recorded record highs in the Upper 80’s to low 90’s while much of the West including the Rockies have been locked into well below normal temperatures all winter and now in Spring. Another cold front from the Gulf of Alaska moved through Northern California and the Bay Area Monday night and early Tuesday morning with light rain here and more snow for there Sierra Nevada.  The Central Sierra Snow Lab operated by University of California, Berkeley picked up 5” of new snow brining the total seasonal snowfall to 737”,  the 3rd greatest annual snowfall since to 300% of average snowfall this season, Californias water supply is in its best shape since the winter of 2016-17. So much so, that the dried up lake bed of Tulare Lake in the Southern San Joaquin Valley has re-appeared after a 70+ year absence. The Tulare Basin would fill every year as run-off from the Sierra snow pack carried by the Kings, Kern and Kaweah Rivers would fill and area bigger than Lake Tahoe.  However, the intense summer heat and increased irrigation dried it up by the early 1930’s.  Large farms planted crops on the dried up Lake bed and built levees to protect the agricultural lands from flooding.Thousands of acres re now underwear. With much of the Sierra snow melt yet to come, Pardee Reservoir in he Mother Lode is 62% full allowing room for the run-off will begin in earnest next month as temperatures warm.  The rest of the East Bay Municipal Water District lakes and reservoirs are 89% full. In the North Bay Marin and Sonoma County Lakes and reservoirs are full and spilling. The short range forecast models show temperatures around the S.F. Bay Area climbing up to near 80 for the only seconded time this Spring.  However, record lows in the 30’s with local frost are a good possibility in the North and East Bay Valleys the next two mornings.  Longer range models show dry weather for the Bay Area through the end of the month but the Sierra will see more snow above 5K in the last week of the month. High temperatures the last few days in the Bay Area are only about 4 to 7 degree lower the mid January but be=gin warm in the first week in May.