Snow surveyors from the California Department of Water Resources reported Tuesday that California’s mountain snowpack is among the driest for the date on record.
Manual and electronic readings taken today recorded the snowpack’s statewide water content at only 19% of the January 3rd average. The number is also only 7% of the average April 1st measurement, when the snowpack is normally at its peak before the spring melt.
Despite today’s dry conditions, however, water managers at the water resource agency remain cautiously optimistic about this year’s water supply. “Fortunately, we have most of winter ahead of us, and our reservoir storage is good,” said DWR Director Mark Cowin.
Electronic readings indicate that water content here in the northern mountains is 21% of normal for the date and 8% of the April 1st seasonal average. Electronic readings for the central Sierra show 13% of normal for the date and 5% of the April 1st average. The numbers for the southern Sierra are 26% of average for the date and 9% of the April 1st average. Statewide, the snowpack water content is 19% of normal for today’s date and 7% of April 1st.
DWR and cooperating agencies conduct manual snow surveys around the first of the month from January to May. The manual surveys supplement and check the accuracy of real-time electronic readings from sensors up and down the state.
DWR’s initial estimate is that the State Water Project will be able to deliver 60% of the slightly more than 4 million acre-feet of water requested by the 29 public agencies that supply more than 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland. The 60% delivery estimate is largely based on the known quantify of carryover reservoir storage. Unknown is how much snow and rain the state will get the rest of this winter.
