Central Sierra mountains ‘smash’ December snow record — and there’s more on the way
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Northern California Winter Storm
A powerful winter storm that lasted through the holiday weekend has hit Northern California with snow and rain. Here’s the latest weather news.
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California’s central Sierra Nevada mountain range has already seen more snow this month than any December in recorded history. And it isn’t particularly close.
After receiving more than 3 feet in 24 hours, the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab on Monday morning reported a new record of 193.7 inches for the month — more than 16 feet.
That “smashed” the previous record for the snowiest December in the central Sierra, when 179 inches fell in 1970, the lab said in a tweet. And the month isn’t over yet.
The strong Christmas weekend winter storm dumped between 5 and 10 feet at some Central Sierra elevations, according to the National Weather Service.
The UC Berkeley lab, located at Donner Pass at an elevation of about 6,900 feet, will likely crack 200 inches, if not by Tuesday morning’s update then before the end of the year. Several more inches of snow are expected in another system coming to Northern California late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
The record-setting precipitation came mainly from two large storms: one this past weekend, and another about two weeks earlier that also dumped feet of snow across the Sierra range, including more than 2 feet in the central Sierra and greater Lake Tahoe area.
This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 8:07 AM with the headline "Central Sierra mountains ‘smash’ December snow record — and there’s more on the way."
