As the animations below dramatically illustrate, it really has been boom year for snow in the western United States. That's especially so for water-starved California, as well as the megadrought-afflicted Colorado River Basin, whose dwindling waters support a $1.4 trillion economy.
Before-and-after satellite images, one captured on April 8, 2022 by the NOAA-20 satellite, and the other on April 10, 2023 by the Suomi-NPP spacecraft, show a dramatic difference in snowpack in the mountains of the American West. Currently, snowpack is well above average nearly everywhere. (Credit: Images from NASA Worldview, animation by Tom Yulsman)
Images from NASA Worldview, animation by Tom Yulsman
The incredible snowpack in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range continues to make headlines — especially as a burgeoning heat wave threatens to cause dramatic melting, raising already high flooding risks. As of April 26, snowpack levels throughout the Sierra Nevada were more than 200 percent of average ...
