We’ve officially added a new color to our temperature blanket! After months of blue and purple, I got to crochet a few new squares in seafoam green. In terms of temperature, that means we’re graduating from weekly averages in the 40s and 50s to the 60s — which, considering summer is only a couple months away, makes sense.
Weather-wise, things have been pretty chill — no pun intended. California saw above average April snowpack levels for the second year in a row, with officials reporting a statewide snowpack average of 113% at the start of April.
This is definitely a good thing; for California, April is considered the peak of snowpack season and marks the transition from accumulating snowpack to springtime snowmelt. That melted snow feeds into our water systems and helps boost our supply during the hottest months of the year. And for context, Sierra snowpack supplies around 30% of California’s water needs.
This year and last have been a much-needed break after years of intense drought. As always, state officials say this doesn’t fix all of California’s drought issues, but cooler temperatures and precipitation definitely help put us in a better spot for the summer.
But those cooler temperatures won’t stick around forever (not that anyone who lives in the Sacramento area needs a reminder). Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, writes that he predicts the cooler start to the year might mean lower-than-usual wildfire risks into the early summer.
He also predicts more scattered showers, like the ones we’ve been experiencing in the Sacramento region recently, possibly all the way into June. But in the later part of summer into autumn, he sees a chance for some intense heat events.
“This year, I think it’s likely this pattern will be even more pronounced than usual — with a notably cool start to summer (especially along the coast) and a notably hot end nearly everywhere,” he wrote.
“What’s going on here? Well, global warming’s the biggest piece, of course,” he continued. “But the expected transition to a fairly robust La Niña event (which tends to favor relatively hotter summers in the mid-latitudes vs. relatively cooler summers closer to the tropics) will also play a role.”
In the meantime, I’m going to be dealing with my spring allergies. Although it’s not totally clear if the local honey solution works, some local experts vouch for it, so I’ll be mixing that into my tea just in case until the summer.
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