After a rough start to winter, 'Miracle March' came through the Tahoe region, dumping nearly 250 inches of snow in a little over three weeks. Other than the boost the extra snow provided to the Tahoe ski industry, the March precipitation was also very important for the regions water supply.
Lake Tahoe supplies a large region with drinking water, including 75 percent of Reno's water supply, and the March precipitation alone is enough fill the lake and provide drinking to the region for three years.
The lake is brimming with water, so much so that officials have begun to release high flows of water into the Truckee River, providing relief to the lake for upcoming rain and snowmelt.
This year's 'Miracle March' fell short of the legendary March of 1991, but it was still the snowiest March in 27 years.
The snowpack in the region is still down compared years past, but March made the situation much more bearable from a drought perspective.The entire Sierra Nevada mountain range sits at about 70-80 percent of historical snowpack.
The snowfall through March provided ski resorts with most of their entire snowpack for the winter season. Here are the final totals from the phenomenal month:
Sierra-at-Tahoe received 70 percent of its year-to-date snowfall during March. Northstar saw 71 percent YTD snowfall in March and Kirkwood saw 65 percent.
In just three weeks, on the verge of a drought, the entire region was supplied with water for years to come. We'll call that a miracle.