California water year ends below average after decent start

California’s Water Year 2020 has come to a close and while parts of Southern California experienced above average precipitation, Northern California was mostly dry.

The water year ended below average and further demonstrated the impact of climate change on the state’s water supply, according to a report released by the Department of Water Resources (DWR).

After the April 1 snowpack measure in the Sierra near Lake Tahoe came in at 66 percent of average, the rest of the Water Year (October 1 - September 30) for the state did not improve. Even though Tahoe was at 66 percent, the state measured snowpack in the state on April 1 was 53 percent of average. It was the 10th smallest snowpack in California since 1950.

“California is experiencing the impacts of climate change with devastating wildfires, record temperatures, variability in precipitation, and a smaller snowpack,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “We must continue to invest in our infrastructure to prepare the state to cope with more extreme weather for the state’s needs today and in the future.”

The year got off to a promising start in late November, but January and February were largely dry. A wet spring partially compensated for the dry winter months but was insufficient to restore Northern California to average conditions. Water Year 2020 was also a dry year in the Colorado River Basin, an important source of supply for Southern California.

California’s reservoirs received just a third of the water runoff from precipitation and snowmelt that they did during the same time period a year ago.

The impacts of dry conditions were tempered, however, because of good reservoir storage from a wet 2019. Statewide reservoir storage through the end of September 2020 is projected to be 93 percent of average or 21.5 million-acre feet.

For the DWR full report, visit HERE.