Storms help snowpack, but it remains scant -- and deadly

Plus a reupped interview with a snow nerd from 2021

The good news: A series of storms slammed the Sierra Nevada in California and large swaths of the Interior West, leaving a lot of snow, snarled roads, and a significantly improved snowpack.

The bad news: The new snow piled on top of the thin layer of old, weak snow led to avalanches, including one near Donner Pass in California that took nine lives, ano…