Economy

California Snowpack 136% Above Average

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: December 31, 2015 6:33 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 3:34 pm

Maybe the drought in California that could not be broken will be. On Wednesday, the California Department of Water Resources reported on the latest snowpack:

Today’s manual survey found a snow depth of 54.7 inches — 16 inches more than the average depth measured there since 1965 — and 16.3 inches of water content, 136 percent of the January 1 average for that site.

The U.S. Drought Monitor still shows that 45% of California suffers from “exceptional drought,” the organization’s worst measure. The number has fallen substantially since summer. Together with the next worse measure, “extreme drought,” the land under the two categories covers 69% of state. The numbers seem too high to be overcome by anything but the most extreme weather that could cut into the terrible numbers.

But the California Department of Water Resources holds out some small hope:

Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program, said “Clearly, this is much better that it was last year at this time, but we haven’t had the full effect of the El Niño yet. If we believe the forecasts, then El Niño is supposed to kick in as we move through the rest of the winter. That will be critical when it comes to looking at reservoir storage.”

Since the melting snowpack represents 30% of California’s water needs, according to the report, every drop counts.