earlier today on the four, we spoke with andrew schwartz.s lead scientist and manager of the uc berkeley sierra snow lab and he said that warming temperatures are bringing changes to the high country. >> we are seeing a gradual transition to more rain in the winter. um, as we get warmer temperatures. so overall, our total precipitation, which is both rain and snow, hasn't changed much, but we're seeing that slowly move to rain, particularly in the months like october and november. uh, april and may, schwartz says when rain falls on the snowpack, it can seep in and bulk it up as we saw last winter. >> or if temperatures are warm, well, it can melt the snow, leaving less in the mountains for when we really need it. for summer irrigation. and that is really the balancing act, right? that we're that we're seeing right now. and fortunately, mark really no, no big storms headed that way. >> yeah. they just have maybe a chance over the next couple of days. and they're probably i'm sure the scientists andrew schwartz is looking at the atmospheric ri

let's bring in andrew schwartz, lead scientist and manager at the uc berkeley central sierra snow lab. andrew, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. >> so we love to see more snow at this time. i'm certainly there were a lot of disappointed holiday skiers, but everyone saying right, don't worry just yet. it's still early. >> that's absolutely correct. yeah, we've had a very slow start to the winter in terms of what we've seen with our snowfall, but it is still fairly early in the winter. there's three months, typically december through february, that we expect to get all of our or the bulk, i should say, of our snow and rain. and we're only past the first month of that. so there's still time to pull out kind of a late season victory. >> i'm going for the late season victory. it's hard, though, when we compare, like last year when we saw you not able to even get into the lab because the snow was piled so high and we had feet and feet of it, we were comparing it to the year before. in 2022. and we're like, this, is this is incredible. this is amazing. and it just

andrew schwartz, the lead scientist and manager of the uc berkeley sierra snow station.or sharing your time with us on the for today. >> thank you so much. okay so let's take a look at our weather . >> and before we head back here to the bay area, this is palisades tahoe. so kind of staying up in the sierra i'm getting ahead of myself here. uh, it looks like you know, they're kind of. they're hoping for additional snow. but now let's bring in our meteorologist. and mark, unfortunately, they're not just going to get it on the scale that they really would like. yeah. >> in fact, they're probably watching the pattern next week that actually might lead to some high snow levels that may lead to some rain in the mountains. but by the way, the central sierra snow lab is just a wonderful place. i visited the lab last november to kind of just learn about their research and they have over 70 instruments in their little backyard area. just doing so much research about the snow and the melting snowpack. so just an interesting place. as you head do, head toward soda springs. now here

joining us live now to talk about this is andrew schwartz, the lead scientist and manager of uc berkeley's central sierra snow lab. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for having me on. >> well, the recent snow survey found the snowpack to be just one quarter of normal. so in your opinion, is there cause for concern? because we know we still have the rest of the winter ahead? >> well, we're always concerned when we're below what we would consider normal for this time of year. but that being said, it's not time to panic. just yet. we have had slow starts to years before that have wound up normal or even above average. so a lot hinges on the next four weeks or so, but not time to panic just yet. >> okay, good to know. and when will we have a better idea of how good or bad the snow season will be? well we really start to look at the numbers come the beginning of february and into march, and if we're still lagging behind at that point, that's when we're really going to start to get concerned. >> most of our precipitation falls in december through february. that 90 day window is when

andrew schwartz took this video at the central sierra no snow lab and soto springs on saturday afternoon it is very snowy and heavy snowfall rates coming down . >> reporter: and that he says is a welcome sight. >> reporter: this is looking like it could be a dent, not huge. if we could have several other storms like it looks like we might, then it should end up helping at least a little bit. >> reporter: there has not been a lot of snowfall so far in the sierra the season . earlier this week the department of water resources did their first snow survey of the year the results were pretty bleak. >> we recorded a snow depth of 7 1/2 inches and a snow water content of three inches . the results in 30% of average to date. >> reporter: for context, this time a year ago the snowpack measured in at 185% of average. >> it was not necessarily surprising, but it is a little concerning. but we have time to recover. >> this is almost par for the course for california and becoming more so with climate change. >> reporter: a professor at uc davis has taught water management for more than 30 years. >>

earlier on the four, we did speak with andrew schwartz, lead scientist and manager at the uc berkeley central sierra snow lab, and he says it's hard to really know what snow levels will be like in the sierra over the next few months. >> el nino is here in the state. don't necessarily mean more water. uh, over the last 20 years, the last seven el ninos to have wound up above average, to have been below average, and three have been at about average. so it's kind of a coin flip at this point. but we're definitely hoping we start seeing snow soon. and if you're planning to drive to the sierra. >> check ahead for those road conditions. they are always changing as they did just a couple of hours ago. caltrans now says there are no chain restrictions on 50 and 80. >> yeah, so now may be the time to get up there. big waves, meantime pummeling the coast sky fox overhead. the peninsula just before noon today and you can see a lot of strong waves and high surf. authorities warning people to reconsider going to the coast because of high winds, strong surf and about 23ft high waves. so keep that i

earlier on the four, we did speak with andrew schwartz, lead scientist and manager at the uc berkeleylab, and he says it's really hard to know what snow levels will be like in the sierra over the next couple of months. >> el nino is here in the state. don't necessarily mean more water. uh, over the last 20 years, the last seven el ninos to have wound up above average, to have been below average, and three have been at about average . so it's kind of a coin flip at this point. but we're definitely hoping we start seeing snow soon . >> and if you're planning to drive to the sierra, always check ahead for those road conditions. they are always changing. and with that, we'll check back in with roberta winter storm. watch what's going on here. i'm getting excited. >> we have to i know right? we have yet another storm. it is heading our way, not a big rainmaker for us, but. but in the high sierra, this is going to be a real snow maker for. that's why the national weather service has already issued that winter storm watch for saturday through sunday. we're going to see nearly two feet of sno

andrew schwartz with cal berkeley central sierra snow lab says that over the last 24 hours about 10 inches of new snow has fallen across the sierra following a lackluster start to the snowy season. that's a good boost. but overall, the state's snowpack is only about 42% of average for this time of year. >> these storms aren't necessarily big enough to make up for the debt deficit that we've already encountered through the early season. you know, going forward, we really want to see big storms. we need to see 3, 4, inches of precip with some of these storms to really start getting us back close to average. >> another storm is expected to hit the sierra this coming weekend with some forecasts predicting one to 2 feet of new snow falling. but after that, conditions dry out for a while. california's rainy season usually peaks around april first. so there is still time for more storms to roll in. but the clock is ticking. it's getting into a point where we're a little concerned, but it's not necessarily time to panic. we still have another 6 potentially to really buffer our snow up. >> all righ

earlier on the four, we did speak with andrew schwartz, lead scientist and manager at the uc berkeley central sierra snow lab. now, he says, it's hard to know what snow levels will be like in the sierra over the next couple of months. >> el ninos here in the state don't necessarily mean more water. uh, over the last 20 years, the last seven el ninos to have wound up above average, to have been below average, and three have been at about average . so it's kind of a coin flip at this point. but we're definitely hoping we start seeing snow soon . >> all right. so if you are planning to drive to the sierra again check ahead for the road conditions. they are always changing as they did just a couple of hours ago. caltrans now says there are no chain restrictions on 50 and 80. >> okay, so back here in the bay area, we remain on dangerous wave watch as high surf continues to slam our coast. we caught more large waves in pacifica as well as at ocean beach. a high surf advisory remains in effect. let's talk about it all and bring in our roberta gonzalez with more on the situation. >> wow, thos

. >> we're getting but >> still still shy of where we want to andrew schwartz with cal berkeley central sierra snow lab says that over the last 24 hours about 10 inches of new snow has fallen across the sierra following a lackluster start to the snowy season. that's a good boost. but overall, the state's snowpack is only about 42% of average for this time of year. >> these storms aren't necessarily big enough to make up for the debt deficit that we've already encountered through the early season. you know, going forward, we really want to see big storms. we need to see 3, 4, inches of precip with some of these storms to really start getting us back close to average. >> another storm is expected to hit the sierra this coming weekend with some forecasts predicting one to 2 feet of new snow falling. but after that, conditions dry out for a while. california's rainy season usually peaks around april first. so there is still time for more storms to roll in. but the clock is ticking. it's getting into a point where we're a little concerned, but it's not necessarily time to panic. we still hav

as for where snow levels are now, earlier today on the four, we spoke with andrew schwartz.lead scientist and manager at the uc berkeley snow lab. >> so far, we've only had about 58% of our average snowfall. and by comparison, at this point last year, we were at nearly 200. so we're definitely on the lower side of things. it's not a record breaking low, but definitely not great. >> schwartz goes on to say how the process works. scientists measure snow levels twice a day using a ruler. they also take samples of the snow to determine the water content at already. >> pretty nice day out there today. some nice sunshine for the first time in a little bit and we'll see more clouds tomorrow, but still pleasant temperatures. these highs from today. highs tomorrow. look how warm their highs tomorrow are going to be about the same. we're going to continue to warm right into the weekend with the sunday the niners game potentially upper 60s low 70s. pretty warm. and then it changes around as you know. so here's the plan. this low kind of clicks to the north. that's where the clouds come

. >> we're getting but >> still still shy of where we want to andrew schwartz with cal berkeley centralsierra snow lab says that over the last 24 hours about 10 inches of new snow has fallen across the sierra following a lackluster start to the snowy season. that's a good boost. but overall, the state's snowpack is only about 42% of average for this time of year. >> these storms aren't necessarily big enough to make up for the deficit that we've already encountered through the early season. you know, going forward, we really want to see big storms. we need to see 3, 4, inches of precip with some of these storms to really start getting us back close to average. >> another storm is expected to hit the sierra this coming weekend with some forecasts predicting one to 2 feet of new snow falling. but after that, conditions dry out for a while. california's rainy season usually peaks around april first. so there is still time for more storms to roll in. but the clock is ticking. it's getting into a point where we're a little concerned, but it's not necessarily time to panic. we still have anot

some of the more familiar names -- former president bill clinton, prince andrew, attorney al under schwartzavid copperfield, governor bill richardson. now, we are reaching out for comment to these men, but not of them have been charged criminally with any ties to epstein's victims, and many in the past have denied wrongdoing. but these documents do underscore epstein's influence and reach. these records all stem from an old civil lawsuit brought against ghislaine maxwell, who was ultimately convicted and now serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring with jeffrey -- jeffrey epstein to groom and abuse young girls. now, this is not the last of the documents. we expect to see the miami herald sued to access the court records that were initially filed under -- with more batches of these types of documents left to come in the coming days. >> as laura said, there is so much more to come with this story and these newly-sealed documents. we will be tracking it in the days ahead, i can promise you that. when we come back, a grand jury in the state of ohio is considering whether to indict a wom