Calif. storms leave Sierra snowpack above average
SACRAMENTO, Calif. The storms that pummeled California with downpours and mudslides this week also buried the Sierra in heavy snow, which is needed to replenish the state's water supply.
The water content in the snowpack of the northern Sierra Nevada nearly doubled over the past week. Even so, state hydrologists said more snow is needed over the next two months to lift California out of a three-year drought and refill its reservoirs.
Electronic readings along the northern Sierra - the source for much of the water used by California cities and farms - show the snowpack at 117 percent of normal.
The snowpack contains about 18 inches of water, said David Rizzardo, snow surveys chief for the Department of Water Resources. At the beginning of the week, the monitors had shown just 10 inches of water content.
"That's a big boost," he said. "We've caught up to the pace. Now we've got to maintain it."
On average, the water content in the snowpack is 107 percent of normal for this time of year throughout the 400-mile long range.
Three dry years have left California's reservoirs low and the ground parched. That means the snowpack needs to be larger than average by the beginning of April, considered the end of winter and the peak of the snowpack.
"It took two or three years to get this dry. It's going to take a couple to get out of it," Rizzardo said.
The Associated Press