Californians have been experiencing a lack of snow during the winter season until recently. In the span of two weeks, the average snowpack in California went from a meagre 18% to 98%, due in part to the river events they experienced.
According to the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E), the increase in the snowpack to this extreme is not at all common, but also not unprecedented. After all, there have been previous studies from years past where the jump on this scale happens twice every three years.
It usually happens over the course of the whole winter rather than in a single month is all.
This sudden change in weather has given California its wettest start to the Water Year in over 40 years. This was a result of the several rain and snow systems that pushed in the area in recent weeks. The Water Year starts on October 1st and runs through until September 30th of the following year.
Also, parts of California have been known for the whiplash weather it experiences. However, the rapid changes that it's made lately are quite remarkable considering how rough the snowpack was early on. That was of course after a dry and very warm November for most of the state.
More Storms Are Expected
Throughout the West Coast, there is expected to be more snow and rain due in part to three separate waves of moisture.
The first arrived on Saturday in the Pacific Northwest. It brought heavy coastal rain and mountain snow that made conditions along the Cascades dangerous.
Sunday had a low-pressure system that went into Oregon and northern California.
Because of these things, meteorologists are predicting snowfall totals to be a range of 3 to 6 inches for interior northwestern state and 2 to 3 feet for the highest elevations of the Cascade, Sierra and northern Rocky Mountains
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