Tuesday’s state snow survey in the Sierra Nevada determined that despite a dry start to the winter season, the snowpack is now above average — making this water year the second in a row with above-average snowpack for drought-weary California.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot joined the Department of Water Resources’ snow survey team at Phillips Station, located off Highway 50 in El Dorado County, where manual snow surveys have been taken by the state for decades as part of the water allocation forecast process. DWR conducts five snow surveys at Phillips Station each winter near the first of each month, January through April and, if necessary, May.
Speaking during a live-streamed news conference, Crowfoot said “winter snows bring summer flows” is California’s version of the well-known “spring showers bring spring flowers” adage as he emphasized the importance of a bountiful snowpack for future water supply.
“The snow under us will melt in the coming weeks; find its way into the American River, into Lake Folsom, through the Folsom Dam. It will pass through the lower American River, past the city of Sacramento and, joining with the mighty Sacramento River, will provide water for people and nature across California,” Crowfoot explained.
On average, the Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s water needs. Andy Reising, a water resources engineer, said there was 10.5 feet of snow at the same time last year, and this year it’s slightly more than 5 feet, which is just above average.
April usually the snowpack peak
Specifically, the recorded depth was 64 inches of snow and 27.5 inches of snow water content, resulting in 113 percent of the April 1 average for the Phillips Station location. Reising explained that April 1 serves as a reporting metric, because that is typically when the state peaks its snowpack before the sun begins melting it down.
“The past month of March was good to us for precipitation and snowfall,” Reising said, noting that recent storms helped boost the snowpack from 75 percent of average to just above average for the water year. “The peak accumulation is a critical metric for water managers to predict and forecast the water supply that will reach our reservoirs.”
The focus now shifts to forecasting spring snowmelt runoff and capturing as much of that water as possible for future use. The dry start to the year, soot and ash from burn scars that accelerates snowmelt, and other factors may result in below-average spring runoff, which can impact water availability, experts say.
DWR Director Karla Nemeth stressed the importance of conserving while managing the runoff, saying variable climate conditions could result in less water runoff into the state’s reservoirs.
“One hundred percent snowpack does not mean 100 percent runoff,” Nemeth said. “Capturing and storing what we can in wetter years for drier times remains a key priority.”
Reservoirs in good shape
DWR reports that California’s reservoirs remain in good shape thanks to state efforts to capture and store as much water as possible from record storms in 2023 and again this season. Since Jan. 1, the State Water Project — the name of California’s network of dams, reservoirs, aqueducts and other water infrastructure — has increased storage by 700,000 acre-feet at Lake Oroville and by 154,000 acre-feet at San Luis Reservoir. Statewide, reservoir levels currently stand at 116 percent of average. Recently, the State Water Project increased its forecasted allocation of water supplies for the year to 30 percent, up from an initial 10 percent, due to the storms in February and March.
“California has had two years of relatively positive water conditions, but that is no reason to let our guard down now,” said Dr. Michael Anderson, a water resources climatologist.
“The wild swings from dry to wet that make up today’s water years make it important to maintain conservation while managing the runoff we do receive. Our water years moving forward will see more extreme dry times interrupted by very wet periods like we saw this winter,” Anderson said.
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