Tag Archives: Governor Brown

Sierra Nevada Snowpack Is Virtually Gone; Water Content Now Is Only 5 Percent of Historic Average, Lowest Since 1950

Scott’s Flat Reservoir Sept 25, 2014. Lowest I’ve seen the reservoir since I’ve lived in Cascade Shores. Picture taken by John J. O’Dell off my deck in Cascade Shores.
Scott’s Flat Reservoir Sept 25, 2014. Lowest I’ve seen the reservoir since I’ve lived in Cascade Shores. Picture taken by John J. O’Dell off my deck in Cascade Shores.

 April 1, 2015

SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) found no snow whatsoever today during its manual survey for the media at 6,800 feet in the Sierra Nevada. This was the first time in 75 years of early-April measurements at the Phillips snow course that no snow was found there.

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. observed the survey, which confirmed electronic readings showing the statewide snowpack with less water content today than any April 1st since 1950.

Attending the survey with Governor Brown was DWR Director Mark Cowin, who said Californians can expect to receive almost no water from the meager snowpack as it melts in the coming weeks.

“Today’s survey underscores the severity of California’s drought,” he said. “Water conservation must become a way of life during the worst drought in most Californians’ lifetimes.”

Today’s readings are historically significant, since the snowpack traditionally is at its peak by early April before it begins to melt. Electronic readings today found that the statewide snowpack holds only 1.4 inches of water content, just 5 percent of the historical average of 28.3 inches for April 1. The previous low for the date was 25 percent in 2014 and 1977.

The Phillips snow course, which has been surveyed since 1941, has averaged 66.5 inches in early-April measurements there. Four years ago today, the measured depth at Phillips was 124.4 inches. The deepest April 1st Phillips measurement was 150.7 inches in 1983, and the lowest previously was 1.04 inches in 1988. Photos of previous surveys at Phillips can be found here.Images from today’s survey will be posted at that link as soon as possible.

Electronic readings indicate the water content of the northern Sierra snowpack today is 1.4 inches, 5 percent of average for the date. The central and southern Sierra readings were 1.5 inches (5 percent of average) and 1.3 inches (5 percent) respectively.

Today’s manual survey was the fourth of the season conducted for the news media at the Phillips snow course just off Highway 50 near Sierra at Tahoe Road 90 miles east of Sacramento. When DWR conducted the first three manual surveys on December 30, January 29 and March 3, the statewide water content in the snowpack was 50 percent, 25 percent and 19 percent respectively of the historical averages for those dates. The decline reflects California’s significantly lower precipitation and the warming trend that made this winter the warmest in the state’s recorded history. What precipitation there was fell mostly as rain due to warmer temperatures.

In what were considered normal precipitation years, the snowpack supplied about 30 percent of California’s water needs as it melts in the spring and summer. The greater the snowpack water content, the greater the likelihood California’s reservoirs will receive ample runoff as the snowpack melts to meet the state’s water demand in the summer and fall.

Continue reading Sierra Nevada Snowpack Is Virtually Gone; Water Content Now Is Only 5 Percent of Historic Average, Lowest Since 1950

Amazon Taxed By State of California, Amazon Cancels All California Associates Program

You may have noticed that I had an Amazon.com advertisement on the right side of my website. Governor Brown has signed into law a bill that taxes sales of items bought on the internet from Amazon.   Because of the new law, my Amazon ad is no longer there, because it specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by California-based marketing affiliates  even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

I was part of what Amazon.com calls Amazon Associates which allowed me to place their ad on my website. Whenever anyone clicked on my ad and bought something I received a small percentage of the sale.

As of June 29, 2011, Amazon has cancelled all affiliations with any Amazon Associates in California. I don’t think this bill is going to help, since the attitude of Amazon is: “Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that we must take this action.”

The aforementioned “other states” include New York, Illinois, Rhode Island, and North Carolina, most of which have seen their own Amazon affiliate programs killed for exactly the same reason. (Edit: New York managed to keep its Amazon affiliate program, presumably because it’s such a huge market.) And, as noted by The Tax Foundation, there are a handful of others—Arizona, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont—that are considering passing similar “Amazon Tax” measures.

Not that the measures are necessarily helping much in terms of states collecting more tax revenue—Rhode Island General Treasurer Frank T. Caprio was recently quoted, saying, “The affiliate tax has hurt Rhode Island businesses and stifled their growth, as they’ve been shut out of some of the world’s largest marketplaces, and should be repealed immediately.” FatWallet, which itself acts as a giant affiliate to Amazon and Overstock, ended up moving from Illinois to Wisconsin over the Illinois “Amazon Tax.”

So we’ll have to see how this works out. What do you think.

Can’t make your house payments? Have you considered a short sale?

John J. O’Dell Realtor® GRI
O’Dell Realty
(530) 263-1091
jodell@nevadacounty.com