Storms Help Snow Survey

By Tracey Petersen Published Feb 27, 2014 05:35 pm Updated Mar 9, 2014 06:49 pm

Sacramento, CA – The third snowpack survey finds slightly increased water content, but the Department of Water Resources (DWR) snow surveyors today reported that snowpack water content remains far below what will be needed this summer.

“We welcome the late storms but they are not enough to end the drought,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin. “We can’t control the weather but we can control the amount of water we use. This drought is a wake-up call that we all have to take water conservation seriously and make it a way of life.”

Today’s manual and electronic readings recorded the snowpack’s statewide water content at 24 percent of average for the date, a slight improvement. That is 21 percent of the average April 1 reading.

Here are the electronic readings for the Sierra regions today:

Northern is 15% of normal for the date
Central is 32% of normal for the date
Southern is 24% of normal for the date

The DWR will conduct manual snow surveys from January thru May. One of the main measurement locations is off Highway 50 in the Lake Tahoe area near Echo Summit.