{"id":274696,"date":"2026-04-18T21:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274696\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T21:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:37:21","slug":"ca-weather-drought-sierra-nevada-snowpack-reservoir-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/274696\/","title":{"rendered":"CA weather: Drought, Sierra Nevada snowpack, reservoir levels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent thunderstorms swept through California<\/a>, bringing heavy rain and mountain snow.<\/p>\n

In January, the U.S. Drought Monitor showed 0% of California was experiencing \u201cabnormally dry\u201d conditions \u2014 or worse \u2014 for the first time in 25 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, a stretch of record heat in March<\/a> quickly changed that, melting much of the state\u2019s snowpack<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cChanges this week included improvements in moderate drought<\/a> in northeastern California,\u201d the U.S. Drought Monitor said in its national drought summary on Thursday, April 16.<\/p>\n

How are snowpack and water levels across California? Which areas are experiencing the worst drought conditions?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know:<\/p>\n

How much of California is experiencing drought?<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, about 44% of California showed no drought conditions, according to the federal Drought Monitor.<\/p>\n

The remaining 56% of the state was \u201cabnormally dry,\u201d with about 5% experiencing \u201cmoderate drought\u201d conditions.<\/p>\n

Despite recent storms, that is only a 3% improvement for areas with \u201cmoderate drought\u201d<\/a> conditions from the previous week on April 7.<\/p>\n

No areas of the Golden State were experiencing \u201csevere,\u201d \u201cextreme\u201d or \u201cexceptional\u201d drought conditions as of Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"As As of Thursday, the federal Drought Monitor reported that only about 44% of the state showed no dry conditions. U.S. Drought Monitor Which parts of California are \u2018abnormally dry\u2019?<\/p>\n

According to the latest data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, much of Northern California was \u201cabnormally dry\u201d<\/a> as of Thursday, including large areas of Sacramento, Yuba, Tuolumne, Placer and Yolo counties.<\/p>\n

Counties across the Central Valley, including Fresno, Tulare and Madera, were also experiencing \u201cabnormally dry\u201d conditions.<\/p>\n

Parts of Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, Sierra and Nevada counties were experiencing \u201cmoderate drought\u201d conditions, according to the federal drought monitor.<\/p>\n

How did recent storms affect California\u2019s snowpack?<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, the Sierra Nevada had received an average of 294 inches of snow so far<\/a> this season, with approximately 43 inches falling at Donner Pass in the past seven days, according to the latest data from the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory.<\/p>\n

Despite recent storms, the California Department of Water Resources said, statewide snowpack totals<\/a> remain below average.<\/p>\n

As of Thursday, the snow water equivalent<\/a> \u2014 which reflects how much water the snow contains \u2014 was 5.4 inches, or just 20% of average statewide<\/a>, according to the state department.<\/p>\n

Snow water equivalent is a key measurement because it helps determine how much water will be available<\/a> when the snow melts in spring and summer, according to the California Department of Water Resources.<\/p>\n

How full are California lakes and reservoirs?<\/p>\n

According to the state Water Resources Department, reservoirs across California<\/a> were holding approximately 33 million acre-feet of water as of Thursday, April 16.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s roughly 121% of what they usually hold at this time<\/a> of year, meaning that storage levels are above average.<\/p>\n

\"A A view of Shasta Lake on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

As of Thursday, these were current water levels in major California lakes and reservoirs:<\/p>\n

Shasta Lake \u2014 90% of capacityLake Oroville \u2014 95%New Bullards Bar Reservoir \u2014 94%Folsom Lake \u2014 92%Camanche Reservoir \u2014 84%New Melones Lake \u2014 78%Don Pedro Lake \u2014 88%Lake McClure \u2014 81%Pine Flat Lake \u2014 82%Millerton Lake \u2014 84%Castaic Lake \u2014 84%Diamond Valley Lake \u2014 97%Lake Casitas \u2014 100%Lake Cachuma \u2014 99%San Luis Reservoir\u2014 88%Lake Sonoma \u2014 69%Trinity Lake \u2014 92% Have a question about life in California?<\/p>\n

How to California \u2014 a guide to help you live, work and enjoy life in the Golden State, is here to help.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll answer your questions \u2014 big and small \u2014 about state laws, history, culture, recreation and travel.<\/p>\n

Ask your questions in the form below (can\u2019t see it? Click here<\/a>) or email howtocalifornia@mcclatchy.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Angela Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\n

The Modesto Bee<\/p>\n

Angela Rodriguez is a service journalism reporter for The Bee. She is a graduate of Sacramento State with a bachelor\u2019s degree in journalism. During her time there, she worked on the State Hornet covering arts and entertainment.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recent thunderstorms swept through California, bringing heavy rain and mountain snow. In January, the U.S. Drought Monitor showed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-274696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}