Snowpack Survey Gives Bleak Summer Outlook for California

With summer approaching state water managers say California’s snowpack is at 18 percent of average for the date.

The Department of Water Resources at the end of April said the season’s final survey of the Sierra Nevada snowpack found more bare ground than snow.

The Sierra snowpack is an essential element of California’s water supply. It accounts for about one-third of the state’s water.

The last measurement was on April 1, considered the peak of the snow season. It showed that the state’s snowpack was about 32 percent of average water content.

DWR Director Mark Cowin says the dire results reaffirm that every drop of water in the state needs to be saved.