Snow not a sign of drought relief

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2003 | 11:25 a.m.

Like a railroad, a series of fronts has been moving across the West, bringing Las Vegas, the Sierras and the Rocky Mountains rain and snow.

Climatologists and local water officials say the precipitation is desperately needed in the region, but the weather is not enough to break more than four years of drought.

Prior to this morning's snow, Las Vegas had already received almost 7 inches of rain this year, well above the average of 4.5 inches. But precipitation in Southern Nevada does little to ease the drought that has dropped Lake Mead's water level by 40 percent and sparked mandatory conservation restrictions throughout the urban area.

Where the precipitation really counts -- in the Rocky Mountains -- the totals are mostly still below average for this year, weather watchers note.

"Unfortunately, what we get here is of little consequence to the lake level," said J.C. Davis, a spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The authority is the water wholesaler for Las Vegas, Clark County, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City.

"We need snow pack, and a lot of it, up in the Rockies," he said.

The mountains, which feed the vast Colorado River Basin ranging from Wyoming to New Mexico, have gotten some benefit from the recent storm fronts that have sparked flash floods in Southern California before moving across Nevada and Colorado.

"In terms of early winter storms up in the Rockies, certainly it's encouraging," Davis said, "but it's far too early in the season to even indicate whether it's going to be an above-average snow year."

He said water consumers should not relax the efforts that have led to a reduction in water consumed from Lake Mead this year.

The weather watchers and water officials will know what shape the water system is in next May, when the final tallies for snowfall come in.

Jim Ashby, a climatologist with the Western Regional Climate Center, a part of the Desert Research Institute in Reno, said the hope is for a really good year in mountains throughout the drought stricken West.

"Anything is going to help, but it definitely is going to take one gigantic winter," he said. The drought hasn't just impacted the Rocky Mountains. It has also hit the Sierra range on the state line between California and Nevada hard, Ashby said.

He said the winter snow season started off slowly throughout the West, but the recent series of fronts has observers hopeful.

"It's picked up and it looks encouraging," Ashby said. "It is possible to change everything in one winter. But it does take one amazing winter.

"It's early enough that anything can happen."

Steve Downs, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service offices in Las Vegas, said the Las Vegas Valley, the Sierra range, the Spring Mountain range and ultimately the Rocky Mountains all have a good chance of getting more rain or snow today and later in the week when another weather system is expected to roll through the area.

"It will probably be pretty spotty," Downs said of today's chances for more precipitation. "We might get something in the valley, but mostly it will be in the mountains."

Down in the valley, rain and snow do have one important benefit, Davis said. Turning off irrigation sprinklers can save millions of gallons throughout the valley.

"Check your watering day," Davis said. "If it rains" -- or snows -- "on that day, don't irrigate."