--- title: Sierra Nevada Mountains Have Lowest Snowpack in 500 Years description: The snowpack in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains has hit a level "unprecedented" in the past 500 years due to the state's drought canonical: https://time.com/4033800/sierra-nevada-mountains-snow/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-14T19:55:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:55:32.490Z article:section: Science og:title: Snow in California Mountains At Lowest Point in 500 Years og:description: “We were expecting that 2015 would be extreme, but not like this" og:url: https://time.com/4033800/sierra-nevada-mountains-snow/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec8240106d0d308/698863872dce01e0129e57f4/california-mountains.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: California Mountains og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Snow in California Mountains At Lowest Point in 500 Years twitter:description: “We were expecting that 2015 would be extreme, but not like this" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec8240106d0d308/698863872dce01e0129e57f4/california-mountains.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Snow in the California Mountains At Lowest Point in 500 Years  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 14, 2015 7:55 PM UTC  Early morning clouds move across the face of Mount Whitney, Eastern Sierras, California. Early morning clouds move across the face of Mount Whitney, Eastern Sierras, California.James + Courtney Forte—Getty Images/Aurora Open  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Sep 14, 2015 7:55 PM UTC The snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains has hit a level “unprecedented” in the past 500 years due to the state’s historic drought, according to new research. For the [study](http://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2809.epdf?referrer%5Faccess%5Ftoken=bbwfz3CLFxlSOA60RhxKpNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MaTV2Rp6vP%5FEsijdwLJ1-6EMR-RFne5yHuc6YcKNVdCpVDPP9BOyXoKpEFuqhxk8TKLVxNsj05bQ5FjfdgBMBnkYkzgplTxpGe2kPLahNbR-j1um7FIFd9aKpksOLprcM6cwTZroeUp%5F5iqXcMyOE5ptIhL-w64enfsYQ9lU7%5FDHg6F4okDPF%5F1x128HC0xIY%3D&tracking%5Freferrer=www.latimes.com), published in the journal _Nature Climate Change,_ researchers compared the snowpack on April 1 with estimates from the last 500 years derived from tree ring studies. Tree rings provide a window into the climate of centuries past, expanding during warm periods and decreasing in size during cold periods. Of course, higher temperatures prevent precipitation from landing as snowfall and keep snow from accumulating. “We were expecting that 2015 would be extreme, but not like this,” senior study author Valerie Trouet, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Arizona, [told](http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-snowpack-20150911-story.html) the Los Angeles _Times._ **Read More**: [Some Parts of California May Soon Be Drought-Free](http://time.com/3961139/california-drought-el-nino/) Policymakers and scientists have recognized the severity of low snowpack for months. California Governor Jerry Brown used a snowless meadow in the mountains as the backdrop to announce new water restrictions in April. On average, [more than five feet of snow](http://www.water.ca.gov/news/newsreleases/2015/040115snowsurvey.pdf) has covered the meadow at that point over the past 70 years, according to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). Overall, the DWR said water levels were at 5% of the historic average. Snowfall in the Sierra Nevada mountain range plays an important role providing water for the entire state. And, while many in the state are hopeful that El Niño will bring some drought relief, the climate phenomenon is unlikely to fall north enough to bring relief to the range. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4033800/sierra-nevada-mountains-snow/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4033800/sierra-nevada-mountains-snow/"},"headline":"Snow in the California Mountains At Lowest Point in 500 Years","datePublished":"2015-09-14T19:55:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:55:32.490Z","description":"'We were expecting that 2015 would be extreme, but not like this'","url":"https://time.com/4033800/sierra-nevada-mountains-snow/","keywords":["climate change"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec8240106d0d308/698863872dce01e0129e57f4/california-mountains.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ec8240106d0d308/698863872dce01e0129e57f4/california-mountains.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"California Mountains","caption":"","creditText":"James + Courtney Forte—Getty Images/Aurora Open","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4033800/sierra-nevada-mountains-snow/","name":"Snow in the California Mountains At Lowest Point in 500 Years"}}]}] ```