Are we still in a drought?

Are we still in a drought?

 

 

Check out this article from the New York Times! The article highlights a NASA project, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, known as Airborne Snow Observatory. This project, which started in 2013, has been taking aerial imagery of the snow areas of California to gather data on snow packs. Melted snow in spring and summer is a very important source of water for California.

 “The snow observatory project, which began flights over the Sierra in 2013, is a groundbreaking initiative in California, where aging infrastructure, a warming climate and rapid population growth have made water management a high-stakes job.” If you'd like to look at the raw data -- how they collect it, the instruments used, etc -- check out the project at https://aso.jpl.nasa.gov.

The New York Times article includes impressive images, as well as interactive maps comparing bare mountains in 2015 with snow packed mountains of 2017.

So, maybe we are still out of drought but this snow is providing some relief and, for those who enjoy skiing and other winter sports, a prolonged snow season is in store.

Review by Laura Galvan-Estrada, SWC Librarian