Sierra snowpack at Phillips Station: Cold, dense and 188 percent of average

PHILLIPS STATION, Calif. - In a final reading of the Sierra snowpack at Phillips Station west of Lake Tahoe, officials from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) found it to be 188 percent of average with 47 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent (SWE) of 27.5 inches.

Statewide, California’s snowpack sits at 31 inches of SWE, which is 144 percent of average for this time of year. Snow water equivalent is the depth of water that theoretically would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously.

The snowpack measurement on March 31, 2019, showed the Sierra had the fifth largest on record, based on more than 250 manual snow surveys conducted each month by the California Cooperative Snow Survey Program.

Normally the April reading at that location is the final one of the year but this year they decided to conduct a fifth monthly reading at the site at the intersection of Highway 50 and Sierra-at-Tahoe entrance.

“2019 has been an extremely good year in terms of snowpack,” said Jon Ericson, DWR Chief of the Division of Flood Management. “Based on our surveys, we are seeing a very dense, cold snowpack that will continue to produce run-off into late summer.”

Water managers and hydrologists in the state watch these snowpack figures to forecast spring and summer snowmelt runoff into rivers and reservoirs. The melting snow supplies approximately one-third of the water used by Californians.

"California’s cities and farms can expect ample water supplies this summer,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “But it’s critical that it’s put to use replenishing groundwater basins and storage reservoirs for the next inevitable drought. Every resident and business can also help California by using water as efficiently as possible.”