… The [Western] region is currently in the grip of a severe snow drought, as more precipitation falls as rain. … Scientists seem to have found a way to help alleviate the West’s fire and ice problems simultaneously, at least in Washington state. Working in the forests of the Cascade Mountains, researchers divided plots on the south and north slopes of a ridge and thinned their vegetation to varying degrees. … Western states will no doubt be interested in what these researchers found: up to 30 percent more snowpack on the thinned plots compared to the areas left unkempt. Scaled up, that would mean an additional 4 million gallons of water per 100 acres of forest. 

Other snowpack and water supply news:

• Cowboy State Daily (Cheyenne, Wyo.): Wyoming’s snowpack ranges from “just okay” to “basically horrible” as winter ends
• KUNR (Reno, Nev.): Is there a potential for flooding in the Sierra Nevada?
• UC Irvine: Map: Got water? Importance of retaining Southern California’s water