Eight inches fell on Mammoth Mountain over the weekend with a "generous delivery of powder" in the Lake Tahoe area, and with that the winter snowpack watch begins. The start of ski and snowboard season comes next. The Tioga Road entry into Yosemite from the Eastern Sierra reopened this afternoon after being closed during the weekend. The east side of the Sierra is the source of most water consumed in Los Angeles. The west side of the range provides a substantial share of the water used to irrigate farms in the San Joaquin Valley and stock the California Aqueduct supplying Southern California.

Photo: Fluoride, SuperTopo.com