Scientists at the University of Arizona helped lead a study looking into the extent of this year\u2019s snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, according to the Sacramento Bee. The results were surprising, as researchers found a high likelihood that the mountain\u2019s range snowpack has not been as low as it is now in at least 500 years. <\/p>\n
Surveyors used snow level measurements to make the find. Those were plugged into models to predict how they compared to others throughout an historical period. The scientists admit they were surprised to see the 500-year low and told the Sacramento Bee that they \u201cran the numbers 10 times\u201d to make sure.<\/p>\n
The finding is a dire one, as Sierra Nevada snowpack is a major supplier of water to the state of California. When it runs low, so do the state\u2019s reservoirs. One clear example of this can be seen at Folsom Lake, where ruins from the Gold Rush era are visible along the lake\u2019s dry bed. <\/p>\n
Top image:\u00a0Frank Gehrke of the California Department of Water Resources has no snow to measure on the annual snowpack survey. (Credit: Randall Benton)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scientists at the University of Arizona helped lead a study looking into the extent of this year\u2019s snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, according to the Sacramento Bee. The results were surprising, as researchers found a high likelihood that the mountain\u2019s range snowpack has not been as low as it is now in at least […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":23248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[345,103,341,361],"class_list":["post-23249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-atmosphere","category-news","tag-earth-atmosphere","tag-news-2","tag-snow-and-ice","tag-university-of-arizona"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\n