Sierra snowpack falls to 83% of average; State looking at continued drought

“Mother Nature is not living up to predictions by some that a ‘Godzilla’ El Niño would produce much more precipitation than usual this winter,” said California Department of Water Resources (DWR) Director Mark Cowin. “We need conservation as much as ever.”

The monthly measurement of the Sierra snowpack was taken Tuesday at Phillips Station near Echo Summit, and the results aren't what the state's water officials were hoping for when winter began. Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, and his survey team measured snow that was 58.3 inches deep with a water content of 27.1 inches. This is 105 percent of the long-term average.

The statewide snowpack, source of much of California’s water supply, is only 83 percent of the March 1 average, the result of moderate precipitation since last October and relatively warm temperatures.

While the Phillips readings are the best for early March since 2011, the individual snow courses are not generally representative of the entire mountain
snowpack.

The statewide readings suggest this may not be a drought-busting year unless
California receives heavy rain this month as it did during the “March Miracles” of 1991 and 1995.

“Right now, we’re obviously better than last year but still way below what would be considered adequate for any reasonable level of recovery at this point,” Gehrke said.

Electronic readings of northern Sierra Nevada snow conditions found 23.1 inches of
water content (89 percent of normal for March 1), 21.7 inches in the central region (85 percent of normal) and 17 inches in the southern region (75 percent of normal).

Today’s snow measurements at Phillips were markedly improved compared to March
2015, when the depth was only 6.5 inches and the water content just 1 inch. Dry
conditions persisted in March, and Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. stood on bare
ground on April 1 when he mandated a 25-percent reduction in water use throughout
California.

Traditionally, half of the state’s annual water falls as rain or snow during December, January and February. Precipitation in December and January measured at weather stations monitored electronically by DWR was 170 percent of the two-month average, but October, November and February rainfall was far below normal. Snowfall since December 1 has mirrored that pattern.

In normal years, the snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s water needs as it melts in the spring and early summer. The greater the snowpack water content, the greater the likelihood California’s reservoirs will receive ample runoff as the snowpack melts to meet the state’s water demand in the summer and fall.