Sacrifice is needed now

Every year about this time, California begins an annual religious rite, taking snow measurements in the Sierra and speculating on their meaning. California, which once worshipped conventional, modern gods has regressed, as its population and agribusiness has outstripped its water supply, to a more primitive, more energetic diety -- the Storm God. No longer requiring prophets and visionaries to track our Storm God because we have all the latest tracking technology -- satellites, GPS, GIS, etc plus the most up-to-date media technology -- California worships the Storm God with rituals so high tech and scientific that most people don't even realize it is, at base, as primitive as worship of Vico's early thunder-clapping, lightning-bolt-hurling, volcano dieties.
Our awe is absolute. We fear the Storm God -- too many storms mean floods, too few mean drought. The first gives us too much water, but it is polluted. The second gives us too little water. The Storm God torments our collective psyche; doubt eats away at our souls. We are not sure the Storm God gives a damn for this great big, Number One Golden State of ours. The Storm God, primitive, glowering, a real mountain-type god, not a UC graduate, might not even know that California has the largest congressional delegation in the whole country, the nation's second largest city, and that the state is just crammed full of the most intelligent professionals in every possible scientific discipline that you could find anywhere on the face of the earth. We give no credence to apocryphal tales that all missing hikers were eaten by the Storm God (although it's said He loves the taste of Gortex). The Storm God is angry, cruel, and perhaps he craves our flesh. Only his divine wife, Siccitas, can calm his wrath. But She has her own agenda.
He certainly has our attention. We hurl our money at Him but, as it is in the nature of all religions, the money never gets to the god -- it stays with the priests. If the news continues to be bad, perhaps priests will be sacrificing virgins on Echo Summit before winter's end, provided they can find a suitable supply.
Badlands Journal editorial board
12-31-09
S.F. Chronicle

Snow isn't erasing lingering drought...Peter Fimrite
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/31/MN9S1BAIGD.DTL
The recent dose of foul weather has raised the spirits of California's water lords, but measurements taken Wednesday in the Sierra Nevada show there is still not enough snow to ease drought conditions.
The ritual trek into the snowy wilderness to survey the state's frozen water supply found= less snow than normal for this time of year in the Sierra, but more than last year.
"What we're finding this year is really pretty close to last year," said Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources, after finishing the last measurement at historic Phillips Station, next to the Sierra-at-Tahoe resort off Highway 50. "It's a little lower in the north. It gets better as we go south, but we've got a lot of winter left. Everything depends on what happens between now and April."
The water content of the snow - the key measurement for how much water will flow into reservoirs - is 85 percent of normal for this date, according to the average of five measurements. It was 76 percent of normal last year.
The measurement in a field covered in a blanket of white near the privately owned cabin known as Phillips Station is traditionally where the department announces the results of the first snow survey of the season. The spot, at 6,800 feet, normally represents the median of the five spots where snowpack is measured. This year was no different.
Water content was 75 percent of normal at Phillips. The lowest measurement was at Echo Summit, where water content was 57 percent of normal. At Lake Audrain it was 91 percent of normal, Gehrke said.
The winter snowpack in the Sierra is not only important to skiers and snowboarders, it is an essential part of the state's water supply. Up to 60 percent of the state's water is contained in the Sierra snowpack. When it melts in the spring and summer, the water is used to irrigate millions of acres of farmland and quench the thirst of California's 36 million people. About a quarter of the state's power comes from hydroelectric plants that count on heavy mountain runoff.
The measurements - conducted every month in the same locations between January and May for the past 65 years - are used to determine the water supply for the coming year. They are particularly important this year because California is facing the prospect of a fourth straight year of drought. Meanwhile the water system is being taxed by a booming state population, aging infrastructure, ongoing environmental battles and restrictions on water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to protect endangered fish.
Right now, Lake Oroville, the primary storage reservoir for the State Water Project, is at 29 percent of capacity and 47 percent of average for this time of year, water resources officials said. If things don't improve, they said, only 5 percent of the water requested by Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast and Southern California farms and cities will be delivered.
One good thing, according to Gehrke, is that the storm-causing condition known as El Niño is in effect. Weather forecasters are nevertheless worried that a high-pressure system could form as it did the past two winters and block precipitation.
Regardless of what happens, Gehrke said it is unlikely California will recover from three years of drought this year. To accomplish that, he said, California would have to have "a real humongous year or a series of above average years" of rain and snow.
Last year is a good example of how fickle Mother Nature has become. The eighth-driest January on record was followed by big Sierra storms. Then warm, dry weather in April melted the snowpack. By May, the water content was 66 percent of normal, prompting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a statewide drought emergency.
All anybody can do now, Gehrke said, is hope the storms keep coming.
"I'm encouraged because we have snow on the ground," Gehrke said. "Even though we don't have a whole lot, it's important that we start out with something."#
12-30-09
Oakland Tribune
Sierra snow below average, despite Calif. Storms...Samantha Young (Associated Press)
http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_14094918?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
California's first snow survey of the winter showed the Sierra snowpack below normal Wednesday despite a series of storms that has drenched much of the state and pleased ski resort operators.  The state Department of Water Resources reported the findings from monitors located along the 400-mile-long Sierra Nevada. The snowpack, which is the source for much of the water used by California cities and farms, contains about 85 percent of its usual water content for this time of year.
Sue Sims, the water department's chief deputy director, said the results suggest California may be facing a fourth year of drought.
"Despite some recent storms, today's snow survey shows that we're still playing catch-up when it comes to our statewide water supplies," Sims said in a statement in which she also urged conservation.
Measuring water content in the Sierra snowpack is important because it helps hydrologists determine how much water farmers and cities can expect in the coming year.
Most of California's December-through-March wet season lies ahead, providing hope that the state can avoid another year of drought.
Forecasters also are predicting a moderate to strong El Nino effect this winter. The periodic warming along the equatorial Pacific generally produces heavier-than-normal precipitation in California.
Kathy Hoxsie, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Sacramento, said Northern California has "an excellent shot of getting above-average precipitation" through early March.
"If we have an above-normal year this year, it will really ease the drought conditions," she said.
Three years of below-average rain and snowfall have drained California's reservoirs. Lake Oroville, the key reservoir in the State Water Project, is slightly less than half as full as it should be at this time of year.
Earlier this month, state officials announced they expected to release a record-low amount of water to 25 million California residents next year if the drought continues— just 5 percent of what contractors have requested.
Farmers who depend on state and federal water deliveries say they are hoping for a cold, wet winter.
"We're so dependent on Mother Nature," said Paul Wenger, a Modesto almond and walnut grower and president of the California Farm Bureau Federation. "We just cross our fingers and hope and pray that we get some wet weather."
At Phillips Station near South Lake Tahoe, state water officials measured the snow depth at 38.5 inches and the water content at 9 inches, which is 75 percent of the average for this time of year. The area is at an elevation of 6,800 feet.
Electronic readings show the average water content level for the northern Sierra, which stretches from the Trinity River to the Feather and Truckee rivers, was 77 percent of normal. Water content was 85 percent of normal in the central Sierra snowpack and 99 percent of normal in the southern region, which stretches from the San Joaquin River and Mono Lake basin to the Kern River.
While the snow levels were below normal, the recent storms have drawn skiers and snowboarders to the slopes in the Sierra over the holiday season. At the Lake Tahoe ski resort of Alpine Meadows, more than 100 inches of snow had fallen by mid-December, said resort spokeswoman Rachael Woods.
"We were very optimistic about the season because it had been forecast as an El Nino winter," Woods said. "That typically brings significant amounts of snowfall to our region."#
San Diego Union-Tribune
California snowpack comes up short...Michael Gardner
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/30/bn30snow-pack-low/California’s first snow survey of the season came in Wednesday at 85 percent of normal.
That figure may seem promising. But it’s actually modest given the gloomy water-shortage picture of the past few years, and big snowmakers are desperately needed if the state has any chance of gaining ground against a four-year drought.
Otherwise, farmland and farmworkers will remain idle. Bans on commercial salmon catches likely will be extended, and ratepayers will have to pay more for less.
The San Diego region’s dependence on the Sierra Nevada snowpack flucuates, but generally between a third and half of the region’s needs are covered by supplies from the north.
The short-range outlook doesn’t promise large amounts of powder, although a relatively weak storm system will skirt California’s far north on Thursday and Friday.
“It looks like it will hang up on the north coast ... It weakens as it gets into the Sierra,” said Mike Ekern, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
But he anticipates stronger storms toward the end of next week.
“It looks fairly wet. It’s encouraging,” Ekern said.
Computer models also signal above average precipitation in the Sierra over the next 30 days, he added.
Reports out of the vital Colorado River basin indicate an equally modest start.
The snowpack there stands at 79 percent of normal, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The Colorado River system, via Lake Mead, filled a little more than half of the San Diego region’s water needs in 2008.#
 
North County Times
Sierra snow levels 15 percent below normal...Dave Downey
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/swcounty/article_07bb53d9-a6a5-562c-998b-6eb6a55d9261.html
For those counting on this winter being the one that breaks California's drought, the season isn't off to a particularly good start.
Snow surveyors for the California Department of Water Resources found Wednesday the amount of water frozen in the Sierra Nevada snowpack stands at 15 percent below normal for this time of the year.
That's better than last year at this time, when the snapshot of snow levels came in at 24 percent below normal, but not much better.
And it follows three straight drier-than-normal years that have milked the state's major reservoirs to the point they are 29 percent full.
"It just reminds us that we need to be ever vigilant in our conservation efforts," said Maureen Stapleton, general manager for the San Diego County Water Authority. "We need to change the way we use water and treat it as the precious resource that it is.
Sue Sims, chief deputy director for the Department of Water Resources, said in a statement that the first of five scheduled precipitation measurements this season is a reminder that Californians should prepare for a possible fourth dry year.
"Despite some recent storms, today's snow survey shows that we're still playing catch-up when it comes to our statewide water supplies," Sims said.
On the other hand, state and local officials said measurements taken later in the season, particularly in April, will be more meaningful in determining whether residents of Riverside and San Diego counties will face watering restrictions again next summer.
"January and February are usually the biggest months for snowfall," department spokesman Don Strickland said in a telephone interview. "It's pretty early in the year right now, so quite honestly these figures really don't mean a whole lot."
Matt Stone, general manager for the Rancho California Water District in Temecula, agreed it is too early to gauge what kind of winter is coming.
"This first snowpack reading is a little like getting the first absentee ballot count before the polls have closed," Stone said by e-mail. "We at least know more than we did before the count, but there is still a lot more votes coming in before the polls close.... We've got to see what we get in Sierra snowpack over the next 75 to 90 days."
Within that time, Californians will find out whether the El Nino condition brewing in the Pacific Ocean will turn the relatively dry start to the season into a wet winter.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration earlier issued a forecast for a wetter-than-normal season for California because of the weather phenomenon that is marked by a significant warm-up of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific. Named for the Spanish reference to the Christ child because it peaks around Christmas, the condition tends to funnel a large number of wet storms through California.
But the condition is weaker than past El Ninos that drenched Southern California, such as those in 1997 to 98 and 1992 to 93.
"You just never know what Mother Nature is going to do," Strickland said. "In some years, there is so much snowfall that it covers the houses up there in the Sierra. If we were to have a year like that, the outlook for the summer would be pretty good."
Even with that, however, a lot of rain and snow would soak into the parched ground before beginning to refill reservoirs, Strickland said.
And with court-ordered restrictions on pumping from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, even a year that leaves reservoirs brimming with water won't necessarily result in huge amounts gushing toward Southern California.
"Even an extremely wet year will only result in average water supplies for the State Water Project," Stapleton said.
Indeed, said Peter Odencrans, a spokesman for Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, "the big question for the agencies south of the delta will be: Will we be able to access that supply when it begins to melt and flows into the delta?"#