WET DECEMBER The Lake Almanor basin picked up almost a foot of moisture during the month of December. Most of that arrived in the form of rain, although we did receive 14 inches of generally wet snowfall on the west shore. The snowfall amount is actually fairly skimpy for December when our average is just over three feet of snow. However, the heavy rains more than made up for the limited snow moisture. If you prefer to keep track of precipitation on a calendar year basis, the basin received a total of 33.79 inches of moisture during calendar 2014, a total that is an encouraging 106% of the long-term average. If your preference is for the July-June “water year,” we are now half-way through that period with a seasonal accumulation of 18.50 inches thus far, or 154% of the long-term average to date. Either way you look at it, it’s a favorable situation. December temperatures were considerably warmer than average, with our average high nearly 2 degrees warmer than the long-term figure and our average low a whopping 8.6 degrees warmer. It wasn’t until late in the month that we started experiencing temperatures that were closer to the winter norm. Those warmer than usual conditions were associated with the wet subtropical storms that brought us all that rain. Drought relief officially requires a substantial snowpack to help replenish and sustain all those downstream reservoirs, so we’re not out of the woods just yet. Our local vegetation has been helped a great deal by all the rain, but we’ll need some colder storms and snow to aid folks at lower elevations. The next three months will be a critical period in that regard.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 03:23:57 +0000
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