

The new year is off to a strong start, at least in terms of snowpack in Northern Nevada.

Eight of 11 major watersheds are near or above normal in terms of snowpack, and the rest aren’t far behind.

It’s a great start compared to this day last year, when every basin was practically parched. For example, the Lake Tahoe Basin was 26 percent of normal in January 2018.

“The snowpack last year this time of year was really dismal so we’re actually doing much better this year,” said Jeff Anderson, a hydrologist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. “So, that is the good news.”

Anderson on Wednesday conducted the first snow survey of 2019 at the Mt. Rose SNOTEL, a device at the Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe resort on Slide Mountain that measures rain and snowfall.

Although the device is automated, Anderson checks the snow in person monthly during winter to make sure the real-life conditions match the automated readings.

Snowpack in the Lake Tahoe Basin, which is important to Reno and Sparks because Lake Tahoe serves as a reservoir for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, is at 79 percent of normal for the date. The Truckee River Basin is at 68 percent of normal. Last year those figures were 26 and 55, respectively.

“We are not quite where we want to be, perhaps, but we are doing better than last year,” Anderson said.

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The news was even better throughout the rest of Northern Nevada.

Snowpack in the Carson River Basin is at 94 percent of normal and in the Walker River Basin it’s at 91 percent. The Lower and Upper Humboldt, Clover Valley, Northern Great Basin and Owyhee River basins are all above 100 percent of normal snowpack for the date.

“This year the snow is pretty consistent at all elevations,” Anderson said.

At the Slide Mountain SNOTEL, the snow was 30 inches deep with 7.9 inches of water content. Last year, the station measured 35 inches of snow with 11.2 inches of water content, about 80 percent of normal. Although the snowpack on Slide Mountain is slightly below last year, Northern Nevada overall has more snow now than it did on the same date last year.

“It has been a week since we had snow and we are walking around in powder,” Anderson said. “So the snow quality is still really good; it is just the overall depth and water content is a little low.”

Although water managers welcomed the strong start, it’s too early to know whether the season will end with adequate snowpack.

The outcome is important because Reno and Sparks get as much as 80 percent of their water supply from the snowpack, said David Wathen, chief deputy water master for the Truckee and Carson rivers.

Water levels in reservoirs lagging

Wathen said strong winters in recent seasons mean there’s already enough water in storage to carry most communities through summer. .

But more snow this season would ensure those systems get replenished. Major reservoirs in the region have plenty of room to spare at the moment.

The top 6 feet of Lake Tahoe, the largest storage area for the Truckee Meadows, is at 61 percent of capacity compared to 78 percent on this date last year.

Reservoirs along the Truckee River, including Donner, Independence, Stampede, Boca and Prosser, are at 69 percent of capacity compared to 81 percent at this time last year.

Lahontan Reservoir near Fallon is at 36 percent of capacity compared to 68 percent at this time last year.

Cold temperatures hit at just the right time

The strong snowpack is at least partly due to good luck, said Dan McEvoy, regional climatologist at the Western Regional Climate Center.

Since October, the average temperature at Tahoe City has been more than a degree above normal, a situation that tends to favor rain over snow.

However, the moisture that has moved into the region happened to coincide with colder temperatures, which helped build a solid snowpack to start the year.

“I’d say we’ve been kind of lucky,” McEvoy said.

The luck could continue into January. McEvoy said a moderate-size storm could bring snow to the region around Saturday.

“It actually looks really good starting about Saturday, at least going into the middle of next week,” McEvoy said.