California snowpack below average in year’s first survey – ‘anything is possible’ for water supply
Despite a flurry of recent winter storms, the California Department of Water Resources’ first snow survey of the year came up short of average Thursday.
However, the substandard snowpack was a far cry from last year’s measurement, when the hills in Phillips, the site of the survey near Echo Summit in the Sierra Nevada, received patchy snow at best.
John King, a DWR water resource engineer who conducted the survey, measured 25.5 inches of snow at Phillips, which is equivalent to 9 inches of water, reaching 80 percent of average for this time of year and 36 percent of average April levels.
“While these results are below average, they are a stark contrast to where we were last year,” King said, adding that “anything is possible from now until May.”
Statewide, California fared worse. Overall, the snowpack is at 67 percent of average for this time of year at 7.1 inches of snow-water, according to DWR data.
As of Wednesday, the Northern Sierra and Trinity region was at 61 percent of average for this date at 6.7 inches of snow-water, the Central Sierra to the east of Sacramento was at 69 percent of average for this date at 7.9 inches of snow-water, and the Southern Sierra, which stretches to the end of the Valley, was at 72 percent of average for this date at 6.1 inches of snow-water, according to DWR data.
The Sierra snowpack supplies California with about 30 percent of its water via runoff, according to the DWR.
The Northern Sierra saw 41 inches of precipitation between October 2017 and October 2018, which is significantly lower than the 94.7 inches in 2016-17, but above 2014-15’s 37.2 inches. The region’s yearly average is 51.8 inches, according to DWR data.
The San Joaquin area received 29.7 inches of precipitation in 2017-18, compared to its yearly average of 40.2 inches. The Tulare Basin region received 17.9 inches in 2017-18 while its yearly average is 28.8, according to DWR data.
“The last few years have shown how variable California’s climate truly is and what a profound impact climate change has on our water resources,” DWR Director Karla Nemeth said in a prepared statement. “California’s significant weather variability means we can go from historic drought to record rainfall, with nothing in between. Climate change will continue to exacerbate the extremes, creating additional challenges for maintaining water supply reliability and the need for innovative solutions.”
Michael Anderson, a department climatologist, said that although snow-water levels were somewhat lacking, it does not spell disaster for the rest of the year.
“We’re below average, but there’s still opportunity. We’re only through the first of our three wettest months of the season,” Anderson said. “December, January and February are when we typically accumulate half our annual (precipitation).”
The state is currently 2-4 degrees Fahrenheit higher than average, due in part to a weak tropical el Niño, Anderson said, though it has been consistently warmer than average since 2013 and can expect to see warming trends moving forward consistent with climate change.
Anderson predicted Sierra storms to resume this weekend after a brief respite, bringing more snow to the region.
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 2:25 PM with the headline "California snowpack below average in year’s first survey – ‘anything is possible’ for water supply."
