Skiing Time in California: Record Snow Storm Hits Sierra Nevadas

California (HDW) November 5, 2004 - A powerful Alaskan storm swept over California during the final week of October, drenching the state with record rain and snow. The storm was the second large storm to move over California in as many weeks, and it left the Sierra Nevada Mountains coated in snow. In this picture taken by a NASA satellite on October 31, 2004, snow highlights the peaks of the long mountain chain that forms California’s eastern border with Nevada. The Sierra Nevada mountains have received a lot of snow in October. Ski resorts may be able to open earlier near Northern California and Nevada this year.

Ski resort owners are not the only people who are pleased with the snowfall—California relies heavily on melting snow for its water supply. Like much of the west, California has been in drought for the past six years, and while this snowfall alone is not enough to end the drought, it will help. At the end of October, many locations in California had set new records for monthly rain or snowfall totals. The snow extends all the way down the 400-mile length of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the above image.