NorCal Forestry and Natural Resource News

29/12/2025

17/02/2025

This month bright will lie high in the east in the evening sky, surrounded by the bright star and the and star clusters. Jupiter outshines even the brightest stars. It rises before sunset now and sets a few hours after midnight by month’s end. Jupiter will remain in the constellation Ta**us the Bull until it passes behind the sun – in its solar conjunction – in June.

For more sky events, visit EarthSky’s night sky guide at: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/visible-planets-tonight-mars-jupiter-venus-saturn-mercury/

07/02/2025

🔹NID February snow survey: snowpack at 87% before current winter storm

All in all, the Nevada Irrigation District’s (NID) watersheds and water storage levels are weathering this year’s hydroclimate whiplash.

January 2025 was unseasonably dry, with only a handful of days that brought any precipitation to the District’s lower- and higher elevations. By contrast, in just a few days, February has received the amount of rain that rivals the usual tally for the entire month.

Snow survey results
NID hydrographers conducted the first snow survey of the year last week, just before the current atmospheric river arrived. They measured an average water content in the snowpack of 20.3 inches, which was 87 percent of average.

Read more here: https://www.nidwater.com/nid-february-snow-survey-snowpack-at-87-before-current-winter-storm

03/02/2025

03/02/2025

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect from Monday through Wednesday for the mountains above 5500 feet. Mountain travel will be difficult to impossible during this time, and is discouraged!

❄️: weather.gov
⛓️: quickmap.dot.ca.gov

02/02/2025

02/02/2025

‼️ Reminder: Precipitation from this system is expected to arrive in multiple waves spanning the weekend and much of the week ahead. A variety of impacts from rainfall, snowfall, and wind are anticipated across interior NorCal, so be sure to stay weather aware!

02/02/2025

Unveiling our 2025 Draft Horse Classic Poster & Tickets!

This amazing pastel painting was created by artist Donna Dutra and displayed at the 2024 Art of the Classic Show. When we first saw this painting, we immediately knew it would make a great poster for 2025!

This beautiful Shire is "Quill" of the well-known Wareing Shires from Blackfoot, Idaho. The Wareing family has been exhibiting at the Draft Horse Classic for several decades and is well known for their stunning black Shire hitches always accented by the sharp pink ribbon.

New this year, we have LOWERED the ticket prices to attend the arena performances. Tickets for all performances will go on sale Monday, February 3 at 8am.

NevadaCountyFair.com/DraftHorseClassic or (530) 273-6217

02/02/2025

How does an Alaska-based wildland firefighter end up working on a wildfire in California?

Check out our latest blog post about how wildland fire personnel are mobilized to wildfires and other emergency response incidents throughout the country: https://www.doi.gov/wildlandfire/behind-scenes-dispatching-wildland-firefighters-around-country?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=facebook&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=doi+-+office+of+wildland+fire

02/02/2025

02/02/2025

Following the wildfires in California, there has been an influx of questions about the movement of wildland firefighters, airtankers, scoopers, and other resources around nationally to support a geographic region or state in need. We encourage all to tune in to an original episode of the Wildfire Matters podcast, "Working at the National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC): a discussion with Sean Peterson," where you can learn about how resources are moved around.

Learn about:
🔥Day-to-day operations at the NICC.
🔥The flow of resource order requests and overall explanation of the dispatch system.
🔥How national wildfire priorities are set.

➡Listen here: https://wildfire-matters.castos.com/episodes/working-at-the-national-interagency-coordination-center-a-discussion-with-sean-peterson

📸Photo courtesy of CalFire Flickr from the Palisades Fire.

20/01/2025

Today the U.S. Forest Service has 2,006 federal resources assigned and 1,222 additional firefighters available for initial attack in Southern California.

With the upcoming forecasted weather fire managers are strategically prepositioning resources around the region to respond quickly to any new fire starts that may occur.

The US National Weather Service Western Region HQ has issued a 🚩Red Flag Warning🚩, in effect from late Monday morning through Tuesday. A 🔥Fire Weather Watch🔥is in effect from Tuesday through Thursday. We can expect a long duration of EXTREMELY DRY CONDITIONS with periods of strong gusty offshore winds Monday through Friday.

Resources from 17 States (Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming) and 2 Countries (Canada and Mexico) have mobilized to California to assist in the efforts here.


📸Forest Service photo by Benjamin Cossel