PrecipConditions.docx

 

 

February 16, 2024

If the Eastern Sierra Is in its Rainy Season

We Ought to do a Precipitation Conditions Report

The natural rhythm of stories in the Eastern Sierra dictates a piece on the precipitation conditions available on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s web site. The data confirms what we see, or don’t see on the ground. If we’re dry, how dry are we; if wet, how do we stack up to other wet years. If you’re wondering, we’re dry on a scale of the dismal 2021-22 rain year.

This year has been weirdly different. Hurricane Hillary gifted the region with record-breaking and road annihilating rainfall in August. Locals spent a whole weekend hunkered down, waiting to see how much damage would have to be cleaned up. It seemed a lot like winter and our bodies tried to convince our brains it wasn’t August at all.

Circadian rhythm is based on a 24-hour period: it gets dark, we should be sleepy. However, the last few months make a good case for a similar rhythm that tells us we’ve been through our “winter/rainy season” so we must be heading to summer. We’re not, there’s still time for the rain gods to move the graph lines.

As of February 13, Eastern Sierra snow pillows weren’t very fluffy, sitting at 13.9-inches of water content, 83-percent of normal to date and 61-percent of normal for April 1, the official end of our rainy season. Ironically, Los Angeles’ rainfall stood at 156-percent of normal to date, followed by South Haiwee at 131-percent and Bishop, 102-percnt. Big Pine Creek won the snow pillow contest at 121-percent of normal to date and 89-percent of normal for April 1.

But it’s too early to assume anything. The last rain cycle was our wettest since LADWP started measuring the snow pillows; the graph line didn’t peak until April. There’s still time for our brains and bodies to agree on what season we’re experiencing.

 

 

 

 
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