A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
December 21, 2007
2. Supply
SIERRA
Snow boosts tourism, water supplies - Reno Gazette Journal
Week of rain filling up Lake Mendocino; Runoff into lake Thursday was 4 times volume Water Agency is releasing into Russian River - Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Lake level inches higher; streams fill with rainfall - Ukiah Daily Journal
SIERRA
Snow boosts tourism, water supplies
By Jeff DeLong and Steve Timko, staff writers
Another strong storm slammed the Sierra on Thursday morning, dropping more than a foot of snow and setting up area ski resorts just in time for Christmas.
The storm, coming on the heels of another earlier in the week, also helped reduce what continues to be a significant deficit for the Sierra snowpack, officials said.
Clear and cold conditions are expected today and over the weekend, with temperatures in
In the mountains Thursday, it was all about the new snow.
"It's a lovely storm," Truckee snowboarder Chris Cwikla said as he tested the fresh powder at north Lake Tahoe's Diamond Peak ski resort.
"It was definitely a long time coming," Cwikla said.
The storm produced blizzard conditions in the higher elevations before breaking up about 10 a.m. Thursday.
Left behind was about a foot of snow around
"It's light and powdery,"18-year-old Lauren Iida of
The storm put ski resorts in a welcome situation as the critical Christmas-New Year's period arrives.
"Everyone was waiting anxiously for these storms to arrive, and they got here just in the nick of time," said Greg Murtha, director of marketing for Sugar Bowl.
Milena Regos, marketing director at
"We're excited. It's going to be a great holiday," Regos said. "We're looking forward to seeing some customers here."
Recent storms also helped boost bookings at Tahoe-area hotels.
In
"Beginning two days ago, we saw a great pick-up for this weekend and into the holidays," Mettler said. "The snow has been great news."
As important as recent storms have proved, the Sierra snowpack remains far below where it should be for the end of December.
On Thursday, the
That's a little better than the situation the same time last year, which ended with an April snowpack less than half of what it should have been. A lot more snow is needed this winter, area water officials said.
"It has been a pretty slow start," said Bill Hauck, water supply coordinator for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority. The authority, which serves 93,000 homes and businesses across the greater Reno-Sparks area, depends on the snowpack to fill Lake Tahoe and other reservoirs along the
"We're heading in the right direction," Hauck said. "We're still optimistic we'll end up with an average or better-than-
average snowpack that will fill our reservoirs."
Conditions are expected to be clear and cold over the weekend, with the possibility of more rain or snow showers on Monday, said Mark Deutschendorf, a National Weather Service forecaster.
"It could be a white Christmas Eve," Deutschendork said.
He said Christmas Day should be dry, with the possibility of another storm arriving next Wednesday. #
http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071221/NEWS10/712210482/1321/NEWS
Week of rain filling up Lake Mendocino; Runoff into lake Thursday was 4 times volume Water Agency is releasing into Russian River
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 12/21/07
By Mike Geniella, staff writer
UKIAH -- A week of on-and-off heavy rain has
If forecasts for more rain over the Christmas holiday are correct, lake levels could soar dramatically, said water officials.
"It's a very positive situation at the moment," said Pam Jeane, deputy director of operations for the Sonoma County Water Agency. The agency owns the bulk of water stored in the man-made reservoir behind Coyote Dam, located about two miles upstream from Ukiah on the
Jeane on Thursday was cautiously optimistic the worst may be over, citing high flows of stream runoff into the lake. At the peak early Thursday, the inflow was nearly 20 times what it had been during dry fall months.
Hours after heavy rain Thursday stopped pelting the watershed, the inflow was four times the volume of water the
Jeane noted that once soils throughout the Lake Mendocino watershed are saturated, the reservoir can fill quickly, even though its current level is just one-quarter of storage capacity.
"If we get three or four more good rainstorms, lake levels should soon start returning to normal," Jeane said.
The rising lake level is an encouraging sign for a
Even with the storm runoff from this week's rains, a huge mud ring still wraps the lake's 15-mile shoreline.
The boat ramps at the north and south ends of the lake are closed, and a popular gathering spot for mud-loving four-wheel vehicle drivers is still off-limits.
The current level of
The county Water Agency generally reserves
http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20071221/NEWS/712210378/1033/NEWS01
Ukiah Daily Journal – 12/21/07
By Ben Brown, staff writer
The heavy rains that have come to the
Most of the streams run out of the Western Hills, and
Sonoma County Water Agency biologist Sean White said these type of streams are not unique to the Ukiah Valley but are found all along the Russian River Watershed as far south as Healdsburg.
The first storms of winter that hit the valley do not usually bring water into the streams because the streams have gravel beds that absorb the rain and groundwater must be charged before it spills over into the stream.
"They take a while to get charged up," McEnhill said.
Most of that water spills into the
The lower reaches of the streams will dry up in the summer, but McEnhill said the upper parts have water all year round.
White said steelhead will regularly spawn in places like Orr Creek and Feliz Creek, climbing all the way up to the headwaters in the winter, spawning, and then leaving or dying before the water recedes.
"Almost all of them have steelhead populations," White said.
Young steelhead will grow up in pools during the summer and then swim back out when the rains come again, White said.
In addition to steelhead, the streams are also home to several other types of fish as well as a spawning ground for newts.
Newts will live and breed in the streams during the fall and winter and then abandon them to hide under logs during the drier months, returning with the first rains.
"We get lots of newts in my yard in Ukiah around this time, marching down to the stream," White said.
He said the late rains this year will probably not have a negative effect on the animals that depend on rain runoff in the streams for habitat because most of the early storms get absorbed as groundwater.
Steelhead don't usually make an appearance in
"It's not until November of December that you start to see the streams reflect rainfall," White said. #
http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/ci_7779274
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