Winter storms in the Sierra Nevada this month have boosted the snowpack to 90% of the normal, a good sign for California’s water supply, state officials said Friday.
The Sierra snowpack has now been near average levels for a third year in a row, said Andy Reising, the Department of Water Resources’ manager of snow surveys and water supply forecasting.
“It’s great news for the state,” said Reising, speaking to reporters in a snowy meadow near Lake Tahoe.
Measurements officials have taken at about 260 sites across the Sierra show that the northern mountains have more snow than the southern areas.
As of Friday, the snowpack in the northern Sierra measured 108% of average for the date, while it stood at 83% in the central Sierra and 81% in the southern Sierra.
Reising said officials hope that storms expected early next week will increase these percentages even more.
April 1 is usually the peak of the snowpack in the Sierra, he said. After that date, an increasing amount begins to melt.
Snow in the Sierra supplies about a third of the state’s water supply.
The current snowpack levels represent one of several metrics for gauging California’s water outlook. Another is the amount of water stored in the state’s reservoirs, which are well above average levels.
Reising said that Southern California might go into drought conditions later this year if it doesn’t rain more this spring. Precipitation in the Los Angeles region, he said, has been only about 50% of normal.
