US: California’s mountains covered in snow way into summer leaves experts surprised

A report by the Los Angeles Times noted how large swathes of the US state of California’s Sierra Nevada are covered even when July is about to end. This also comes as the state’s snowpack reached a record-high, earlier this year, at 40 million acre-feet at its peak in April.

California’s unusual weather phenomenon

Large parts of the mountains in the state are reportedly covered in snow well into summer when compared to the previous year around the same time. The report by the Los Angeles Times also noted how since the snow is around longer this time it has become a risky issue for hikers.

This unusual weather phenomenon has been attributed to an unusually wet winter and temperatures remaining low well into the spring which have also kept the typical dry weather conditions leading to massive wildfires over the years, at bay this time around.

As of earlier this month, California’s fire forecast remains “normal” to “below normal” due to the heavy rain and snow this year, reported NPR.

Snow in California and risks for hikers

On July 21, the snowpack in both the South and Central Sierra regions was a whopping 1,000 per cent of the average for that date, according to the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, snow cover at high elevations has also reportedly persisted far longer compared with last year.

The report also noted that such favourable conditions for longer snow were last seen over a decade ago, in 2011. “It’s pretty great to still have snowpack around,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory.

However, he has also cautioned about late-season wet slab avalanches which occur when a layer of snow, or a slab, gets wet and very heavy ultimately causing the slab to slide downhill and can potentially partly or completely bury a person.

Earlier this month, a hiker was reported to have died in an avalanche on Split Mountain in Inyo County. Schwartz, according to the media report, also noted that rivers and streams from snowmelt have also been flowing faster and higher than average this year but the runoff peaked on June 1. However, it has since been on a downswing since but some of them still pose a threat to people venturing into the mountains in the upcoming days and weeks, he added.

Similarly, Rob Patterson, president of the Mono County Sheriff’s Office’s search-and-rescue team said, “It makes people want to get in the water, and it makes the snow melt faster.” He added, “So I want to caution people to please be very, very, very careful around water, especially anything that leads to a stream or river. I would just not get in there right now.”

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