The Download: taking the temperature of snow, and the future of privacy

The Sierra’s frozen reservoir provides about a third of California’s water and most of what comes out of the faucets, shower heads, and sprinklers in the towns and cities of northwestern Nevada. As it melts through the spring and summer, dam operators, water agencies, and communities have to manage the flow of billions of gallons of runoff, storing up enough to get through the dry summer months without allowing reservoirs and canals to flood. The need for better snowpack temperature data has become increasingly critical for predicting when the water will flow down the mountains, as climate change fuels hotter weather, melts snow faster, and drives rapid swings between very wet and very dry periods. In the past, it was hard work to gather this data. Now, a new generation of tools, techniques, and models promises to ease that process, improve water forecasts, and help California and other states manage in the face of increasingly severe droughts and flooding. However, observers fear th ... Read full article.