California Starts New Year With Below-Average Snowpack: Report

Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada near South Lake Tahoe—which supplies about 30 percent of the state’s water—measured 30 percent of average, officials reported.

(L-R) Sean de Guzman, manager of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit, Anthony Burdock and Jordan Thoennes, both water resources engineers in the unit, prepare to conduct the first media snow survey of the 2024 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada, approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County. Calif., on Jan. 2, 2024. Xavier Mascareñas/California Department of Water Resources

California’s snowpack in the Sierra Nevada near South Lake Tahoe—which supplies about 30 percent of the state’s water—measured only 30 percent of average in the first snow survey of the season, water officials reported Jan. 2.

The state’s water resources department conducted its first snow survey Tuesday at Phillips Station, located in El Dorado County near South Lake Tahoe. Researchers recorded 7.5 inches of snow depth at the site, and a snow water equivalent of 3 inches, which is 30 percent of average for the location, according to the department.

The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is used by the department in its water crucial supply forecast for the state.

Photographers and videographers capture the team that performs the snow survey during the first media snow survey of the 2024 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada, approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County, Calif., Jan. 2, 2024. Fred Greaves/California Department of Water Resources

Statewide, the snowpack has only reached one-quarter of the state’s average for the date, the department reported.

It’s still too early to say how much water the state will get this year as the weather phenomenon El Niño settles in, but officials with the Department of Water Resources are already urging Californians to conserve water.

“While we are glad the recent storms brought a small boost to the snowpack, the dry fall and below average conditions today shows how fast water conditions can change,” the department’s forecasting manager Sean de Guzman said in a press release Tuesday. “It’s still far too early to say what kind of water year we will have, and it will be important for Californians to pay attention to their forecasts and conserve water, rain or shine.”

California had one of the highest snowpacks on record last year after a series of holiday storms pummeled the Golden State. On Jan. 3, 2023, snowpack levels at Phillip’s Station measured 177 percent of the historical average for the year.

However, the start of this water year, which began Oct. 1, has been dry despite recent storms in the last weeks of December. State reservoirs are still above average for this time of year, officials said.

El Niño conditions, marked by warmer ocean temperatures, usually mean the state will get more rain, but the outlook remains uncertain, according to the water resources department.

Even with the El Niño climate pattern this year, researchers are predicting an average or below-average water year, according to Alison Toy, an education and outreach program coordinator at the University of California at Davis.

“It’s still potentially early days,” Ms. Toy told The Epoch Times. “We are dealing with climate change, so nothing truly is normal anymore.”

The Lake Tahoe region has had dry spells in the past that picked up later on as the season progressed, according to Ms. Toy. In the winter of 2010–2011, the region had no snow on the ground, for instance, but it started snowing in February and ended up as one of the biggest water years in history, she said.

Sean de Guzman (R), manager of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit, and Anthony Burdock, water resources engineer in the unit, weigh the aluminum snow depth survey pole to measure the water content of the snow during the first media snow survey of the 2024 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada, approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento off Highway 50 in El Dorado County, Calif., on Jan. 2, 2024. Xavier Mascareñas/California Department of Water Resources

Ice crystallizes over running water within sight of the Phillips Station meadow where the California Department of Water Resources conducted its first media snow survey of the 2024 season at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada in El Dorado County, Calif., on Jan. 2, 2024. Xavier Mascareñas/California Department of Water Resources

State officials are preparing for the possibility of more extreme storms, the state’s water resources department director Karla Nemeth said in a press release Tuesday.

The department’s readings from 130 stations throughout the state show that the statewide snowpack’s snow water equivalent is 2.5 inches, or 25 percent of average for the date, compared to 185 percent of average on the same date last year, the department reported.

California’s three-year drought ended last year when extreme storms delivered massive amounts of water and flooding across the state.

In preparation for the possibility of more flooding this year, a state and federal flood operations group has already stored flood prevention equipment and materials around the state and has 2.2 million more sandbags ready for use, according to the department.