Winter Snow Level Rise in the Northern Sierra Nevada from 2008 to 2017

Hatchett, Benjamin J.; Daudert, B.; Garner, Christopher B.; Oakley, Nina S.; Putnam, Aaron E.; White, Allen B.

doi:10.3390/w9110899

Cited by 53 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…These high snow levels are consistent with other ARs that entrained typhoon moisture remnants (Table 1; Figure 5). The finding that ARs with typhoon-remnant origins demonstrate extremely high snow levels is consistent with the positive linear relationship between precipitable water and snow level identified during the winter season by [12]. Because this event occurred in April and a ripening antecedent snowpack was present, the impacts of the high snow levels and heavy precipitation were amplified compared to the October events.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…A meridional elevation gradient spans the range; the northern region is composed of lower characteristic elevations (median = 1.6 km above sea level) than the central (2.1 km) and southern (1.9 km) regions. This makes the northern region most susceptible to rain-on-snow flooding during storms with elevated snow levels and extreme precipitation [11,12]. However, when snow levels are extremely high (>2.5 km), large catchment areas of watersheds throughout the range will receive rainfall and contribute runoff from both direct precipitation and heat transfer-driven snowmelt [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Snow Level Characteristics and Impacts of a Spring Typhoon-Originating Atmospheric River in the Sierra Nevada, USA

Hatchett

2018

Atmosphere

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Abstract:On 5-7 April 2018, a landfalling atmospheric river resulted in widespread heavy precipitation in the Sierra Nevada of California and Nevada. Observed snow levels during this event were among the highest snow levels recorded since observations began in 2002 and exceeded 2.75 km for 31 h in the northern Sierra Nevada and 3.75 km for 12 h in the southern Sierra Nevada. The anomalously high snow levels and over 80 mm of precipitation caused flooding, debris flows, and wet snow avalanches in the upper elevations of the Sierra Nevada. The origin of this atmospheric river was super typhoon Jelawat, whose moisture remnants were entrained and maintained by an extratropical cyclone in the northeast Pacific. This event was notable due to its April occurrence, as six other typhoon remnants that caused heavy precipitation with high snow levels (mean = 2.92 km) in the northern Sierra Nevada all occurred during October.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Snow Level Characteristics and Impacts of a Spring Typhoon-Originating Atmospheric River in the Sierra Nevada, USA

Hatchett

2018

Atmosphere

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“…In California, a majority of the state's annual water supply occurs as wintertime precipitation. Warming in the winter has shown to elevate the rain-snow elevation and lead to a higher ratio of the precipitation falling as rain rather than snow [60,61]. For rain-dominated watersheds with relatively lower elevations (e.g., Sacramento Valley watersheds; Table 1), increased rainfall around the normal rain-snow elevation (when there is no significant warming) would contribute to runoff at watershed outlet quickly.…”

Section: Attribution Of Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential Changes in Runoff of California’s Major Water Supply Watersheds in the 21st Century

He¹,

Anderson²,

Schwarz³

et al. 2019

Water

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This study assesses potential changes in runoff of California’s eight major Central Valley water supply watersheds in the 21st century. The study employs the latest operative climate projections from 10 general circulation models (GCMs) of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) under two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) to drive a hydrologic model (VIC) in generating runoff projections through 2099. Changes in peak runoff, peak timing, seasonal (major water supply season April–July) runoff, and annual runoff during two future periods, mid-century and late-century, relative to a historical baseline period are examined. Trends in seasonal and annual runoff projections are also investigated. The results indicate that watershed characteristics impact runoff responses to climate change. Specifically, for rain-dominated watersheds, runoff is generally projected to peak earlier with higher peak volumes on average. For snow-dominated watersheds, however, runoff is largely projected to peak within the same month as historical runoff has, with little changes in peak volume during mid-century but pronounced decreases during late-century under the higher emission scenario. The study also identifies changes that are common to all study watersheds. Specifically, the temporal distribution of annual runoff is projected to change in terms of shifting more volume to the wet season, though there is no significant changing trend in the total annual runoff. Additionally, the snowmelt portion of the total annual runoff (represented by April–July runoff divided by total annual runoff) is projected to decline consistently under both emission scenarios, indicative of a shrinking snowpack across the study watersheds. Collectively, these changes imply higher flood risk and lower water supply reliability in the future that are expected to pose stress to California’s water system. Those findings can inform water management adaptation practices (e.g., watershed restoration, re-operation of the current water system, investing in additional water storage) to cope with the stress.

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“…The water balance of the Feather has experienced recent warming-related changes, including declining runoff and peak snow accumulation (Freeman, 2011(Freeman, , 2012, forest growth (Freeman, 2011), and a rise in the rain-snow transition line (Hatchett et al, 2017).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Evapotranspiration feedbacks shift annual precipitation-runoff relationships during multi-year droughts in a Mediterranean mixed rain-snow climate

Avanzi

Rungee

Maurer

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Abstract. Focusing on the headwaters of the California's Feather River, we investigated how multi-year droughts affect the water balance of Mediterranean mixed rain-snow catchments. Droughts in these catchments saw a lower fraction of precipitation allocated to runoff compared to non-drought years. This shift in precipitation-runoff relationship was larger in a surface-runoff-dominated than in a subsurface-flow-dominated catchment – 39 % and 18 % less runoff, respectively, for a representative precipitation amount. The performance of the PRMS hydrologic model in these catchments decreased during droughts, particularly those causing larger shifts in the annual precipitation-runoff relationship. Evapotranspiration (ET) was the only water-balance component for which predictive accuracy during drought vs. non-drought years was consistently different. Besides a systematic bias during all years, the model tended to relatively overestimate drought ET and to underestimate non-drought ET. Modeling errors for ET during droughts were somewhat correlated with maximum and minimum annual temperature as well as changes in sub-surface storage (r = −0.45, −0.57, and 0.23, respectively). These correlations point to the interannual response of ET to climate, or climate elasticity of ET, as the likely driver of the observed shifts in precipitation-runoff relationship during droughts in Mediterranean mixed rain-snow regions; underestimation of this response caused increased modeling inaccuracy during droughts. Improved predictions of interannual variability of ET are necessary to support water-supply management in a warming climate and could be achieved by explicitly parametrizing feedback mechanisms across atmospheric demand for moisture, ET, and multi-year carryover of subsurface storage.

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Winter Snow Level Rise in the Northern Sierra Nevada from 2008 to 2017

Cited by 53 publications

References 61 publications

Snow Level Characteristics and Impacts of a Spring Typhoon-Originating Atmospheric River in the Sierra Nevada, USA

Snow Level Characteristics and Impacts of a Spring Typhoon-Originating Atmospheric River in the Sierra Nevada, USA

Potential Changes in Runoff of California’s Major Water Supply Watersheds in the 21st Century

Evapotranspiration feedbacks shift annual precipitation-runoff relationships during multi-year droughts in a Mediterranean mixed rain-snow climate

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