Sierra snowpack at 79% of February average

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted the second manual snow survey of the season at Phillips Station Thursday, and they found 40.5 inches of snow depth and snow water equivalent (SWE) of 14.5 inches. The snowpack at this location is 79 percent of the February average, with the rest of the state measuring in at 73 percent of average.

The Phillips Station total is 58 percent of the seasonal average.

"It's decent but below average," said Sean de Guzman, chief of DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section.

Last year at this time, which was just before the heavy snowstorms of February and March, the snowpack was almost 100 percent of average. In January 2020, the snowpack was at 90 percent of average.

Their purpose is to measure the water content in the snowpack which is a key indicator for the state's water supply. They survey manually five times a year but also survey electronically daily.

The SWE measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack, which provides a more accurate forecast of spring runoff.

“After a good start in December, January saw dry conditions that added little to the Sierra snowpack,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “As climate change continues to impact California’s snowpack, we look to actions described in the recently released California Water Resilience Portfolio to meet the challenges brought by weather variability to California’s water supply.”

Results from snow surveys like the one conducted at Phillips Station are critical to the management of California’s water. The Snow Survey program is a collaborative effort between state, federal, local, and private agencies. Local agencies ranging from small irrigation districts to large urban water districts contribute to the program. Today in California, more than 50 agencies work together to collect snow data from more than three hundred snow courses.

California traditionally receives about 75 percent of its annual precipitation during December, January and February, with the bulk of this precipitation coming from atmospheric rivers. Similar to last year, California experienced a dry start to this water year followed by cold, wet December storms that brought the state up to 74 percent of average annual precipitation for this time of year. Climate change is expected to lead to continued warming and fewer but more intense storms impacting the snowpack of the Sierra Nevada. These changes continue to impact the distribution of snow across elevations, its pattern of accumulation, and rate of melt.