Emerald Lake reflections
Emerald Lake is an alpine lake at about 9,500 feet (just under 3,000 meters) up in the eastern Sierra Nevada. It is often still frozen over at this time of the year, but we have had a very, very warm and dry winter. At the final survey, water content in the Sierra snowpack was measured at 40 percent of normal. It was 190 percent of normal this time last year. We can expect more of these kinds of crazy fluctuations as the planet warms, and weather gets weirder. The winter snowpack is crucial because it provides about a third of California's water supply as it melts throughout spring and summer. And it is also the source of nearly all the irrigation water for over a million acres of farmland in California's central valley – the richest, most productive agricultural region on earth.
Of course, my dog didn't mind, as it gave him the chance to swim in a pristine high mountain lake. I just hope it sticks around so that he and his future buddies get to keep swimming in it for years to come.
Emerald Lake reflections
Emerald Lake is an alpine lake at about 9,500 feet (just under 3,000 meters) up in the eastern Sierra Nevada. It is often still frozen over at this time of the year, but we have had a very, very warm and dry winter. At the final survey, water content in the Sierra snowpack was measured at 40 percent of normal. It was 190 percent of normal this time last year. We can expect more of these kinds of crazy fluctuations as the planet warms, and weather gets weirder. The winter snowpack is crucial because it provides about a third of California's water supply as it melts throughout spring and summer. And it is also the source of nearly all the irrigation water for over a million acres of farmland in California's central valley – the richest, most productive agricultural region on earth.
Of course, my dog didn't mind, as it gave him the chance to swim in a pristine high mountain lake. I just hope it sticks around so that he and his future buddies get to keep swimming in it for years to come.