California’s in for Summer Water Shortages After Officials Find Just 2.5 Inches of Snowpack

The snowpack in California is dangerously low after one of many driest winters in 128 years.

California Department of Water Resources officers set out final week to conduct the annual snowpack measurement at Phillips Station, simply south of Lake Tahoe. They discovered solely 2.5 inches of snow within the space, when common snow depth for the top of winter is about 5 ft there, the division stated in a statement. Statewide, snow ranges are simply 38% of what they’d usually be presently of yr, officers stated.

“The conditions we are seeing today speak to how severe our drought remains. DWR has been planning for the reality of a third dry year since the start of the water year on October 1,” stated Karla Nemeth, the DWR director.

There was some hope that this yr would see a good degree of snowpack after 17 feet of snow fell over the Sierra Nevada mountains this previous December. This broke a number of information, however that hope was brief lived when solely 9 inches of snow fell in January, adopted by low snowfall in February and March. Just final week, the California Nevada River Forecast Center stated that this was the driest January by way of March interval on file for the state, primarily based on knowledge from three recording stations. “Unfortunately another below normal [precipitation] month,” the agency tweeted.

Snow is an important supply of water for the area, after it melts and makes its solution to reservoirs within the spring. Snowpack in California’s mountains makes up 30% of the state’s water, according to the Department of Water Resources. Governor Gavin Newsom just lately ordered native water suppliers to start aggressive conservation plans.

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Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that 60% of the continental U.S. will expertise drought circumstances this spring. The exceptionally dry, nearly snowless winter is a symptom of what has been declared the worst drought the North American Southwest has skilled in 1,200 years. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, all of California is at present experiencing abnormally dry circumstances, and 93% of the state is experiencing extreme drought circumstances.