After an extremely dry January, California’s snowpack in the Sierra Nevada now measures just 65% of the average for this time of year, but state water officials said two winter storms are expected to bring more snow and rain that will add to the state’s water supplies.
State officials announced the below-average snowpack measurements as they carried out their monthly snow survey at Phillips Station near South Lake Tahoe. Fresh snow was falling as they drove a metal tube into the snow to measure its water content, adding to data collected across the Sierra range.
“We’ve had a very dry January,” said Andy Reising, manager of snow surveys and water supply forecasting for the state Department of Water Resources. “It has hurt our snowpack by not adding to it. So we’re behind the eight ball throughout the state.”
As of Jan. 1, the statewide snowpack had measured 108% of average after a series of large storms brought snow in November and December, with the largest accumulations in the northern Sierra. But the unusually dry January has left the snowpack significantly below average.
In the southern Sierra region, the snowpack now measures 47% of average.
The first of two atmospheric river storms began bringing rain and snow on Friday and is forecast to deliver more over the weekend. Another storm is approaching over the Pacific Ocean and expected to arrive next week.
The storms coming from the tropics are warm, and it’s uncertain how much additional snow they will bring, Reising said.
“There’s a lot of precipitation coming, but it’s warmer,” Reising said. “Some of it will run off. We’ll get some snow, but we just don’t know how much.”
On average, the Sierra snowpack supplies about 30% of California’s water.
The storms will likely push Northern California to near or above average precipitation for this time of year, Reising said, but are not expected to bring much moisture to Southern California.
Karla Nemeth, director of the Department of Water Resources, said despite a good start to the snowpack in the northern Sierra in November and December, “we can look back as recently as 2013 and 2021 to show how quickly conditions can change for the drier.”
“California missed out on critical snow-building storms in January,” Nemeth said.
With the forecast rains, she said, “we are hopeful that this is a signal that the storm door has opened for California and that we will see a wet period moving forward.”
However, she said, “sustained periods of no precipitation can dry the state out very quickly.”
“For each day it’s not snowing or raining, we are not keeping up with what we need,” Nemeth said.
Earlier this week, the Department of Water Resources announced that agencies supplied by the State Water Project should expect to receive at least 20% of their full water allocations this year, up from 15% a month earlier.
The increase in the water allocation amounts to approximately 100,000 acre-feet of additional water for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which delivers water to cities and agencies that supply 19 million people.
“That will allow us to meet more local demands with State Project supplies and reduce our withdrawals from storage, increasing regional reliability,” said Deven Upadhyay, the MWD’s general manager.
The agency started this year with a record 3.8 million acre-feet of water stored in reservoirs and underground storage areas. Upadhyay said that will ensure that Southern California is prepared for next year if more severe dry conditions return.
