Editor’s note: Following are snippets from recent articles by Bay City News Service or its BCN Foundation that you can read in full at PleasantonWeekly.com.
Snowpack way down
Following three of the driest months on record, California’s snowpack levels are well below average and the outlook for water deliveries continues to be grim.Officials from the California Department of Water Resources conducted their annual April 1 Sierra Nevada snowpack survey and found that levels are just 38% of average.
Standing on a conspicuously dry patch of ground at Philips Station in El Dorado County, where the snowpack is usually 5 feet deep or so, officials said the measurement of snow at that location was 2.5 inches on Friday, with a water content of 1 inch — just 4% of average for that location.
Just last month, a similar survey at the same location found a snow depth of 35 inches and a snow water equivalent of 16 inches, about 68% of average for the beginning of March. Statewide, the mountain snowpack water content stands at 44%.
Rattlesnakes out
March used to be considered a relatively safe month for snake-adverse hikers. Not anymore.By mid-month, photos of wild snakes (especially rattlesnakes) were showing up on social media pages of both hikers and non-hikers in the Bay Area. Not all of the photos were taken in far-flung wilderness areas; some were in suburban neighborhoods and at least one was near downtown Walnut Creek.
It’s California. We live with and around wild animals. But snakes usually wait until April or May to start showing up regularly. Climate change and California’s historic drought, which some experts say will be more of a regular thing for the state, are changing how plants and animals do their business.
And as it gets warmer this year, more snakes will be out, warming their cold reptile blood in the sunshine.
$200M eyed for BART
President Joe Biden has earmarked an additional $200 million for the Silicon Valley BART Extension Phase II in his upcoming proposed budget, a spokesperson for the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority announced last week.The project will extend BART alignment from the North San Jose Berryessa station through downtown San Jose to Santa Clara, adding four more stations and six more miles of track, the agency said.
This will be the third allocation of funds for the project after the Federal Transit Authority authorized $125 million in 2019 and another $100 million in 2021.
