Alan Riquelmy<\/p>\n
PHILLIPS STATION, Calif. (CN) \u2014 Less than two weeks ago, you could still see the bare dirt at one of California\u2019s snow survey locations.<\/p>\n
Recent storms have greatly changed the landscape at Phillips Station, which sits at 6,800 feet above sea level near Lake Tahoe. State workers on Tuesday trudged across white powder as they performed the first snow survey of the season.<\/p>\n
The results, while not ideal, are better than that bare earth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s still pretty early for our water year and the coming season,\u201d said Angelique Fabbiani-Leon, state hydrometeorologist with the state Department of Water Resources.<\/p>\n
The survey, conducted with snow tubes, found 24 inches of snow with a snow-water equivalent of 5 inches, the latter of which is 50% of average for this spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words, we\u2019d like 10 inches of water content on the ground right now,\u201d said David Rizzardo, the department\u2019s hydrology section manager, in a press conference.<\/p>\n
Across California, snowpack was 71% of average for this time. At this time last year, it was 115% of average.<\/p>\n
On Dec. 19, snowpack across the state sat at 12% of average \u2014 a sign of the dry month at that point. Then the storms hit, bringing the statewide snowpack to its current level of 71% of average.<\/p>\n
Phillips Station is one of some 260 locations across the Golden State where snow measurements occur. The information is used to determine how much water the state will receive when it begins to melt, filling rivers and, ultimately, reservoirs.<\/p>\n
The snowpack itself is like a reservoir, as it provides nearly one-third of the state\u2019s water.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to see so much fresh snow in the Sierra following a relatively dry December,\u201d said Karla Nemeth, the water resources department\u2019s director, in a statement. \u201cMore than any other factor, the rain and snow that falls in these critical winter months dictates how much water can be delivered to Californians and farmland statewide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snowfall during winter is critical to building the state\u2019s frozen reservoir. About half of California\u2019s yearly rainfall comes during December through February, and 75% comes between November and March.<\/p>\n
While Tuesday\u2019s data could have been better, Nemeth called the state\u2019s reservoir levels good news. California\u2019s largest reservoirs \u2014 Shasta and Oroville \u2014 both held around 125% of their average capacity.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s key for Nemeth, who noted that water years are becoming more variable. Ambient temperatures are warming, she said, and the environment is drying out. California doesn\u2019t see the precipitation it once did.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hope is always for a \u2018Goldilocks season\u2019 \u2014 not too little and not too much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n