Sonora, CA—California is seeing plenty of rain and water stored in its reservoirs, but only about half the snow levels of a year ago, state water authorities said Thursday, adding that it’s too early to tell how that will affect water supply in the next year.
This week, Department of Water officials held the third manual snowpack reading at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada, which recorded a snow depth of 24 inches, said Angelique Fabbiani-Leon, state hydrometeorologist at the Department of Water Resources’ snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit. She added, “The water content of snowpack at the station is at 50% of the average for this time of year and 21% of the average for April 1, when the Sierra snowpack is typically at its peak.”
Those levels are about half of what the state saw at this time last year, according to David Rizzardo, the department’s hydrology section manager.
“The trend we’re looking at right now is more rain than snow,” stated Rizzardo. “We’d like to see the snow accumulation pick up by April 1 so that we’re closer to average.”
Additionally, state reservoirs are measuring 123% of average for this time of year. Click here to view reservoir levels.
