California begins 2025 with solid start to winter snowpack, but more storms needed
PHILLIPS STATION, California — California is starting 2025 with a solid start to its winter snowpack, officials said Thursday, but they warned that more storms are needed to keep the state’s water supply on track.
Officials at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada, a mountain range that covers the eastern part of the state, recorded a snow depth of 24 inches (61 centimeters), said Andy Reising, manager of the Department of Water Resources’ snow surveys and water supplies. prediction unit.
The water content of the snowpack at the station was 91% of average so far and 37% of average on April 1, when the Sierra snowpack is typically at its peak, he said.
“Right now I feel fine, but … we’re going to need a succession of monthly storms to keep going,” Reising said, adding that the northern half of the state has experienced a series of storms, but the southern half has has done. been dry.
The snowpack functions as a vast frozen reservoir, supplying nearly a third of the water used annually in California when it melts and flows into streams and rivers in the spring. The state has built a complex system of canals and dams to capture that water and store it in huge reservoirs so it can be used the rest of the year when it doesn’t rain or snow.
The readings are closely watched in California, the nation’s most populous state with 39 million residents and also responsible for growing more than a third of the country’s vegetables and three-quarters of its fruits and nuts. The health of the snowpack will help determine whether California will struggle to supply water to farms and cities throughout the summer.
Many of California’s state-run reservoirs are at two-thirds or three-quarters of capacity, and well above the historical average at the start of the year, thanks to two years of above-average snow conditions, state data show. Last week, California officials told farms and cities that rely on the state’s water supply that they would receive more water than previously planned due to severe storms in late 2024. They can now expect to receive 15% of requested supplies instead of 5%. , and that number could rise if the wet weather continues.
The survey was the first in a seasonal series of manual measurements at Phillips Station. The department also collects measurements with electronic instruments at other locations and said statewide snowpack is 108% of average.
A year agothe state started the season with mountain snow below normal levels and water content about 25% of average. By means of Aprilthe water content was 110% of the average. That followed A huge snowdrifts to begin 2023, after a series of atmospheric rivers lifted the state out of a three-year drought.