A study by researchers at the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and published online on September 14 in the Journal Nature Climate Change reconstructed snow water equivalent conditions based on tree-ring data for the last 500 years across the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The researchers found that the snowpack measured on April 1 of this year was likely the lowest during that time period.
Noting that the record low snowpack occurred at a time of record-high temperatures in California, the researchers conclude that the role that temperature plays in the total amount and duration of snowpack portends “major future impacts” on the water supplies in the Golden State.