Snowpacks aren’t measured this early in the season by the Department of Water Resources. But the manager of the DWR’s Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Unit, Sean de Guzman, says this is the earliest he’s seen this much snow in the Northern Sierra in a number of years…

click to listen to Sean de Guzman

De Guzman also mentions that the winter-like cold nights in the mountains has also kept the snowpack pretty much intact at this point. But there are no storms on the way this week or next weekend…

click to listen to Sean de Guzman

De Guzman says this is also expected to be the third straight winter with a La Nina pattern, which has happened only a couple of other times in recorded weather history. And that’s meant prolonged dry spells the last couple of years, punctuated by only a few strong systems. De Guzman says the first posting of snowpack data is usually done in early December.