New Report Suggests No Change in California Snowfall in 130 Years

A new report showing no change in California snowfall amounts over the last 130 years disputes that anything has changed as a result of climate change.

Conducted by John Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, the analysis of snowfall data from as far back as 1878 found no long-term trend in how much snow falls in the state.

"There isn't a trend significantly different from zero for the whole period," Christy said in a press release. "I also looked at just the past 50 years and there is no trend over this recent stretch either."

Details of Christy's research have been accepted for publication and released online by the American Meteorological Society's "Journal of Hydrometeorology."

The significant amount of snow that fell in the Sierra last winter and the scanty amounts this year fall within the realm of normal weather variability, the report concludes.

Christy's study used snow measurements from railroad officials, loggers, mining companies, hydroelectric utilities, water districts and government organizations going back to 1878.

Read the full press release and a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.