During this Holiday Week, a strong Pacific storm, centered off British Columbia, swept copious moisture across the drought-plagued landscape of the Western U.S. The persistent onshore flow produced heavy snow (measured in feet) along the Cascades and Sierra Nevada and steady rains across the lowlands of California and the Desert Southwest.
As it pushes inland, the storm will also bring heavy snow to the mountains of the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain corridor before stretching out across the Northern Plains. On its heels, another Pacific storm will drag in additional moisture, further enhancing mountain snowpacks throughout the West.
After years of "sub-normal" precipitation, especially in the Four Corners region, relief has arrived. Time will tell if this snow machine will remain active through the winter and what effects global warming will have on the American West. While we wait to find out, continued efforts to conserve water and reduce demand make sense.
