The company uses three planes to survey snow watershed by watershed, from the Yuba River basin to the Kings River basin. “We just mow the lawn over the Sierra Nevada, and shoot laser pulses out of the bottom of the plane,” Carey said. Painter’s team has made 42 flights over the Sierra Nevada so far this year. In the Sierra Nevada, state officials continue operating the network of automated snow sensors and doing manual surveys in about 250 locations. In his years studying snow in the Sierra Nevada, Painter has seen glaciers retreat with the rise in temperatures.

Source: Los Angeles Times May 16, 2023 19:38 UTC