Snowfall in California breaks 30-year record

677 inches of snow has fallen at the Central Snow Laboratory, a University of California, Berkeley field research station located at Donner Pass in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. The latest total recorded today, surpassed a 30-year record held back in 1983.

Here’s how this water year – counted Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 – stacks up against history:

A larger area of California has passed the 50-feet mark for snowfall

Since late February, areas with snowfall surpassing 50 feet in California has expanded, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Here is how the accumulation of snowfall from Oct.1, 2022, through March 14 compares with two weeks earlier on March 1st:

“We have seen a four-fold increase in total area of snowfall greater than 50 feet in recent weeks,” said Shawn Carter, a physical scientist at the National Water Center. 

That’s led to more snow at lower elevations.

“On March 1, most of the areas that accumulated 50 feet or more were located above 10,000 feet,” Carter said. “Now we are seeing some areas as low as 8,800 feet.”