\n<\/p>\n
A series of December storms delivered a welcome boost to California\u2019s snowpack, scientists said on Tuesday in a closely watched assessment of the state\u2019s water resources for the year ahead.<\/p>\n
The snowpack survey recorded a snow depth of 24in (61cm), said Angelique Fabbiani-Leon, state hydrometeorologist at the California department of water resources\u2019 snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit. The survey was conducted at the Phillips station in the Sierra Nevada, a mountain range that covers the eastern part of the state.<\/p>\n
The department also collects measurements with electronic instruments at other sites, and said that statewide the snowpack currently stands at 71% of average.<\/p>\n
The measurement is the first of the season, and offers an important snapshot of the health of California\u2019s water supply. The snowpack acts as a critical saving bank for the year ahead \u2013 essentially a frozen reservoir that provides about a third of the water used annually in California as it melts each spring and flows into rivers and streams and replenishes groundwater.<\/p>\n
A period of warm, dry weather was recently broken by a series of heavy storms \u2013 fueled by a powerful atmospheric river \u2013 that brought record levels of rain in places such as Los Angeles and large quantities of snow in mountainous areas.<\/p>\n
Officials said that Monday\u2019s measurement offered a hopeful sign, but cautioned that it is too soon to know how that could affect water supplies in the coming year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dry conditions and warmer temperatures in early December delayed our snow-building season, but the return of storm activity, especially in the last week, helped to build a solid base for this year\u2019s snowpack,\u201d said Fabbiani-Leon. \u201cWhile California is in a better position now, it is still early in the season and our state\u2019s water supply for this year will ultimately depend on a continued cadence of storms throughout winter and early spring.\u201d<\/p>\n
The water content of the snowpack at the Phillips station is at 50% of the average for this time of year and 21% of the average for 1 April, when the Sierra snowpack is typically at its peak, Fabbiani-Leon said.<\/p>\n
Those levels are about half of what the state saw at this time last year, said David Rizzardo, the department\u2019s hydrology section manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe trend we\u2019re looking at right now is more rain than snow,\u201d Rizzardo told reporters. \u201cWe\u2019d like to see the snow accumulation pick up by April 1 so that we\u2019re closer to average.\u201d<\/p>\n
The state has built a complex system of canals and dams to capture and store the water in reservoirs for the hot, dry months when it doesn\u2019t rain or snow. Those reservoirs are measuring at 123% of average for this time of year, Rizzardo said.<\/p>\n
The measurements are closely watched in California, which is home to 39 million people and grows much of the country\u2019s fresh fruit and vegetables. The health of the snowpack helps determine whether California will face challenges providing water to farms and cities during the hot summer months.<\/p>\n
The state has grappled in recent years with swings between extremes of wet and dry. About a year ago, officials recorded a water content of the snowpack at the Phillips station of 91% of the average. In 2025, the state\u2019s snowpack was near average just ahead of the 1 April peak and the state\u2019s reservoirs above their historic capacity after two wet winters, following a years-long drought that forced severe cuts in water use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A series of December storms delivered a welcome boost to California\u2019s snowpack, scientists said on Tuesday in a closely watched assessment of the state\u2019s water resources for the year ahead. The snowpack survey recorded a snow depth of 24in (61cm), said Angelique Fabbiani-Leon, state hydrometeorologist at the California department of water resources\u2019 snow surveys and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[650,667,6685,21478,1266,21477],"class_list":{"0":"post-39699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-boost","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-december","11":"tag-downpours","12":"tag-series","13":"tag-snowpack"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}