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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — California’s snowpack is improving thanks to recent storms, but still below the seasonal average.
The Department of Water Resources on Tuesday conducted the second snow survey of the season at Phillips Station.
The manual survey recorded 29 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 10 inches, which is 58% of average for this location.
The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water supply forecast.
Tuesday’s results reflect a modest increase in the snowpack since Jan. 1, but overall conditions are still far below normal.
DWR’s electronic readings from 130 stations placed throughout the state indicate that the statewide snowpack’s snow water equivalent is 8.4 inches, or 52% of average for this date, an improvement from just 28% of average on Jan. 1. One year ago, the snowpack statewide was 214% of average on Feb. 1.
“This year’s El Niño has delivered below average precipitation and an even smaller snowpack,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “Californians must prepare for all possible conditions during the remaining months of the rainy season.”
Despite additional precipitation in January, many storms so far this year have been warmer than average, producing rain rather than snow at higher elevations.
Overall statewide precipitation is 82% of average for this date. Last year’s snowpack was aided by both above average precipitation and below average temperatures, which created a historic snowpack and improved reservoir storage statewide, which is still above average. Lake Oroville, the State Water Project’s largest reservoir, is currently 76% of average.
“Despite strong El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean, a high-pressure system and several other climate factors have led to below average conditions so far and most storm impacts have been focused along the coastal regions,” said Dr. Michael Anderson, state Climatologist with the Department of Water Resources. “Many of these storms have also been warmer than average and produced more rain and less snow, a far cry from last year’s near-record snowpack and once again demonstrating how California can swing from one extreme to another.”
Even though this winter has provided below average precipitation overall, it can only take one storm to produce severe flooding in the right circumstances.
Communities in San Diego, the Bay Area and along the North Coast have already experienced flooding impacts this winter, highlighting the need to always be prepared for flood risk.
DWR and the Joint State-Federal Flood Operations Center have been working with communities and emergency response agencies to coordinate flood response and provide training to prepare for flooding.
All Californians should follow three basic steps to plan for possible floods:
Be aware of your risk – know whether your home is downslope of a burn area or in a floodplain; pay attention to weather forecasts; listen to local authorities.
Be prepared – always have an emergency evacuation kit ready; be ready to evacuate early; have a plan for where you will go in an emergency.
Take action – subscribe to your local emergency providers to get updated information. If local authorities issue an evacuation order, do not delay, follow local guidelines for evacuation and never attempt to drive through a flooded roadway.
On average, the Sierra snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s water needs. Its natural ability to store water is why the Sierra snowpack is often referred to as California's “frozen reservoir.”
Data from these snow surveys and forecasts produced by DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit are important factors in determining how DWR manages the state’s water resources.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported late Monday that it has named two new wolf packs that were confirmed in the state last summer.
The newly named wolf families are the Beyem Seyo pack in Plumas County and the Harvey pack in Lassen County.
Another of 2023’s newly discovered packs, the Yowlumni pack, ranges in Tulare County and was named in December.
“These awe-inspiring animals continue to show us that California’s wild landscapes are great habitat for wolves and that they’ll find their way here,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Wolves belong in our state, and we should do everything we can to ensure they thrive.”
The department’s quarterly report covered known wolf information from August through October 2023. It reported that the state has five wolf packs plus several groups of wolves, including new individuals and groups in four northeastern California counties.
The new report noted the continued existence of the Lassen pack in Lassen County, the Whaleback pack in Siskiyou County and a group of two or three wolves in Tehama County. Another group of three wolves was documented ranging in Sierra and Nevada counties, and individual wolves have been sighted in Modoc County. A previously known wolf family in Plumas County, the Beckwourth pack, is thought to no longer exist.
Based on the department’s count, California is currently home to around 45 wolves including adults, yearlings and pups of the year.
The Beyem Seyo pack has at least two adults and six pups; the Harvey pack has at least two adults and one pup; the Lassen pack has a minimum two adults, five yearlings, and three pups; the Whaleback pack is composed of at least two adults, one yearling, and eight pups; the Yowlumni pack consists of two adults and six pups; and the two unnamed groups of wolves include a group of two to three wolves in Tehama County and a group of three wolves in Sierra and Nevada counties.
“I feel so fortunate to bear witness to the return of these top-level carnivores to California,” said Weiss. “Not only are wolves essential to healthy, wild nature, they also have for thousands of years been integral to the human spirit and imagination and a symbol of our connection to the wild.”
The first wolf in nearly a century to make California part of his range was OR-7, a radio-collared wolf from Oregon that entered California in late 2011. OR-7 traveled across seven northeastern counties in California before returning to southwestern Oregon, where he found a mate and settled down, forming the Rogue pack.
Several of OR-7’s offspring have since come to California and established packs. Those include the original breeding male of the Lassen pack and the breeding female of the Yowlumne pack residing in Tulare County. The Shasta pack, California’s first confirmed wolf pack in nearly 100 years, was discovered in 2015 but disappeared a few months later.
The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is native to California but was driven to extinction in the state by the mid-1920s. After OR-7 left Oregon for California, the Center and allies successfully petitioned the state to fully protect wolves under California’s endangered species act. Wolves are also federally protected in California under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is illegal to intentionally kill any wolves in the state.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The council will meet at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.
The meeting will be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel or the Lake County PEGTV YouTube Channel.
Community members also can participate via Zoom or can attend in person.
The agenda can be found here.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at
To give the council adequate time to review your questions and comments, please submit your written comments before 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1.
The only item on the agenda for the special meeting, which will be followed at 6 p.m. by the regular meeting, is the consideration of an appeal filed by the Koi Nation of Northern California regarding the Clearlake Planning Commission’s approval on Dec. 18 of a subdivision, tentative map and environmental analysis for a development at 2890 Old Highway 53.
It’s the latest in a series of appeals and actions the tribe — now working to get approval for a casino project in Windsor, in neighboring Sonoma County — has taken against projects in the city, including a project to extend 18th Avenue and the city’s Burns Valley sports complex project.
The subdivision is proposed by Danco Subdivision Development, which built another project near the sports complex area which was not challenged by the tribe.
The staff report explains, “The Danco Subdivision Development is a market-rate residential development that has been designed to be compatible with the rural character of its surrounding neighborhood. The project consists of subdividing a 30-acre parcel into 22 lots. The parcels will range in size from 1.25 to 2.75 acres.”
City staff is urging the council to deny the appeal.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Nationwide, the Census Bureau said the official poverty rate in 2022 was 11.5%, with 37.9 million people in poverty.
Neither the rate nor the number in poverty was significantly different from 2021, the Census Bureau reported.
The official poverty rate for Black individuals decreased between 2021 and 2022. The 2022 rate was the lowest on record.
In Lake County, the U.S. Census estimated there were 66,685 residents in 2022.
Lake County’s poverty rate in 2022 was 16.8% — with a deviation of plus or minus 4.2% — accounting for 11,175 residents.
Previous years’ poverty rates, based on the American Community Survey’s one year estimates — except for 2020, for which only a five-year estimate was available — are as follows:
• 2021, 12.9%.
• 2020, 17.5%.
• 2019, 18.9%.
• 2018, 17.6%.
• 2017, 20.8%.
• 2016, 20.4%.
• 2015, 19.4%.
• 2014, 25.8%.
• 2013, 24.6%.
• 2012, 26.6%.
• 2011, 24.8%.
• 2010, 22%.
In related data, the Census Bureau said that, nationwide, the Supplemental Poverty Measure, or SPM, rate in 2022 was 12.4%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points from 2021. This accounts for the first increase in the overall SPM poverty rate since 2010.
In 2022, the SPM child poverty rate more than doubled, from 5.2% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2022.
The Census Bureau said that in 2022, Social Security continued to be the most important antipoverty program, moving 28.9 million people out of SPM poverty.
Refundable tax credits moved 6.4 million people out of SPM poverty, down from 9.6 million people in 2021.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
