Growth, Water, and the Quality of Life in Nevada

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Growth, Water, and the Quality of Life in
Nevada NWRA 2005 Conference
The Nevada Climate Office The States Resource
for Data and Research
Dr. Jeffrey Underwood Nevada State
Climatologist Department of Geography University
of Nevada, Reno
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Outline

• ? The Snow Season (to date)
• ? Forecast for 2005 (Feb-Apr)
• ? Climate Change and Water Resources
• ? The Nevada Climate Office

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Winter 2004-2005

• Storms give Sierra Nevada most snowfall in 90
  years
• By Martin Griffith
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
• Sierra Nevada Areas Hit With Most Snow Since 1916
• By Martin Griffith
• Associated Press
• Northern Nevada digs out as new storm looms
• By SANDRA CHEREB
• ASSOCIATED PRESS
• Wet January further alleviates drought Las Vegas
  gets 2 inches
• of rain in year's first month, fourth-highest
  total on record
• By HENRY BREAN
• REVIEW-JOURNAL
• Nevada wet north to south Rainfall record set in
  Las Vegas
• Valley Reno area gets up to 4 feet of snow
• By SANDRA CHEREB
• THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Snow Water Equivalent per Basin(Through
janurary 2005)

• NEVADA
• NORTHERN GREAT BASIN 85
• SNAKE RIVER 92
• OWYHEE RIVER 80
• UPPER HUMBOLDT RIVER 122
• LOWER HUMBOLDT RIVER 99
• CLOVER VALLEY 79
• EASTERN NEVADA 211
• CALIFORNIA
• NORTHERN GREAT BASIN 85
• TRUCKEE RIVER 149
• LAKE TAHOE 156
• CARSON RIVER 163
• WALKER RIVER 182
• KLAMATH 47

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Snow Water Equivalent per Basin(Through
janurary 2005)

• COLORADO
• GUNNISON RIVER BASIN 149
• UPPER COLORADO RIVER 104
• SOUTH PLATTE RIVER BASIN 90
• LARAMIE AND NORTH PLATTE RIVER 90
• YAMPA AND WHITE RIVER BASINS 90
• ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN 129
• UPPER RIO GRANDE BASIN 158
• SAN MIGUEL, DOLORES, SJ RIVER 160
• COLORADO RIVER BASIN ABOVE LAKE
• POWELL Basin-wide percent of avg. 128

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500hPa Composites for 1st Quartile Snowfall
(Colorado)
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500hPa Composites for 1st Quartile Snowfall
(Sierra)
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December 2004 500hPa Composite
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This plot shows precipitation departures from
normal for the forecast period 8-14 days after
the date indicated on the plot. Blue areas on the
map are regions forecast to be drier than normal
Red areas are regions forecast to be wetter than
normal.
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Forecast Feb-Apr 2005
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Colorado (Aspen) Correlation Analysis Marked
correlations are significant at p lt .05000 N41

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Sierra (Tahoe City) Correlation Analysis Marked
correlations are significant at p lt .05000 N52

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Mean seasonal snowfall (November - March 1948
through 1993) in inches for Neutral years (top).
Lower left map is the difference in snowfall
between El Niño years and Neutral years. Lower
right map is the difference in snowfall between
La Niña years and Neutral years. Data are
analyzed on a 2o x 2o grid.
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Mean number of days per season (December -
February 1948 through 1993) in which maximum
daily temperature is below freezing (top).
Difference in number of days between Neutral
years and moderate to strong El Niño years (lower
left). Lower right panel similar to lower left,
except for La Niña years. Data are analyzed on a
22o x 22o grid. Daily climatology is a 7-day
running mean.
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Weather 2005(drought?)
Weather 2004-2005(drought)
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The Nevada Climate Office(Projects)

• The Nevada Climate Monitoring Infrastructure
  Survey
• Field Assessment of Weather/Climate Hardware
• GIS Data base of all Field Instruments
• Analysis Quality, Data Availability,
  Connectivity, Access
• Proposal NSF Connection of existing hardware,
  Deployment of new Hardware
• Outcome Highly integrated, High Density, High
  Quality Network
• Benefits Water Resource Mgt., Emergency Mgt.,
  Natural Resource MgtOthers
• Post Wildfire Hydrological Hazard Study
• Flash Floods
• Debris Flows

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Questions / Comments

• Snowfall Climatology
• Climate Change and Nevada Weather/Water
• Nevada Climate Office