Storms bode well for Truckee Meadows water supply
By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal
Continuing April storms have helped maintain the mountain snowpack and bolstered the region’s water supplies for summer.
On April 1, which federal hydrologists typically consider the end of the snow season, the Tahoe-Truckee snowpack was about 90 percent of average, the fourth straight subpar winter.
But subsequent storms boosted the snowpack to normal or above normal levels for the first time since the 2005-06 winter.
“All year, we were lagging. Then we had that jump,” said Gary Barbato, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Reno. “The snowpack is average.”