CHESTER — The final snowpack survey of the year took a bit more effort for the PG&E team at Lassen Volcanic National Park.
In the dense, late April snow, PG&E hydrographers drilled through 211 inches of snowpack Tuesday to reach the gravel parking lot of the Lassen Peak trailhead — by jumping on their equipment like a pogo stick.
“At many other sites we can core many samples by hand. At this site, we have to jump on the sampler to use our full body weight to get it down,” said PG&E Hydrographer Dan Stephens. “We’ve already broken gear this morning.”
Stephens said Lassen Peak represents 3% of the Feather River watershed, and one of the stations measured 211 inches of snow, equivalent to 118 inches of water.
Spokesman Paul Moreno said PG&E is one of many agencies conducting snowpack surveys throughout the state from February through May. The Department of Water Resources will collect data through May 3 and the final report will be published later in the month, he said.
“This has been done since the 1930s, this physical measurement. And they continue to do it so they have a consistent yardstick, so to speak,” said Moreno.
Stephens said samples are taken from 10 stations at Lassen Peak and is averaged out for a final number to report to the California Cooperative Snow Survey.
Aside from measuring snowpack for municipal water uses, PG&E will calculate how much hydroelectric power will be generated from water traveling through its power plants along the Feather River.
Moreno said water from Lassen Peak will have passed seven hydroelectric powerhouses before reaching Lake Oroville.
“This is one of several sites that we measure each month during this time of year. This is actually the start about as high up you can get off the north fork watershed,” he said.
Stephens said core samples at Lassen Peak are showing less snow than areas farther south.
“What we’ve seen is a year similar to 2017, 2019 — big banner year. I can’t say its record amounts in this area. Farther south we’ve had a really good year; that’s going to be a great year for hydroproduction,” Stephens said.
After samples are taken throughout the Feather River watershed, PG&E will calculate a forecast of how much hydroelectric power will be available.
Moreno said hydroelectric in a typical year will produce about 15% of PG&E’s power portfolio.
“With a wet year like this, we expect that number to increase, but we’re not going to have the numbers crunched until sometime in May,” Moreno said.
Hydroelectric power generation this year is expected to last into early fall. Moreno said hydroelectric power can be used to fill gaps in power production to meet power needs for residents through the summer.
“In drier years, we will actually hold water back in our reservoirs … that way we’ll have water available to meet the peak demands of summer. For this year, it means much more hydropower pretty much all the time.”
Source: Orange County Register
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