News for Immediate Release
March 27, 2014
Ted Thomas, Information Officer – (916) 653-9712
Ted.Thomas@water.ca.gov
Doug Carlson, Information Officer – (916) 653-5114
Paul.Carlson@water.ca.gov
April 1 Snow Survey Will Reveal Whether Recent Precipitation
Has Reversed March’s Steady Decline in Sierra Snowpack
SACRAMENTO – Department of Water Resources surveyors will head back up the mountain on Tuesday, April 1 for their monthly on-the-ground snow survey with an expectation of finding growth in the snowpack due to this week’s storms throughout much of California.
However, the first significant precipitation in weeks likely will be too little and too late to have much impact on this year’s severe drought. Snowpack and rain measurements are so far below normal for this time of year that even sustained rainfall over the next several days, as is predicted, won’t end the drought.
Today’s (3/27) snowpack water equivalent as measured electronically by 99 sensors in the Northern, Central and Southern Sierra Nevada range is 7.1 inches, only 25 percent of the date’s average of 28.3 inches.
Rain measurements show the same pattern. Average rainfall at eight monitoring stations in Northern California is just 55 percent of the average for this date, and the average at five stations in the San Joaquin watershed is even less – 43 percent of their average.
Northern California reservoirs – Shasta, Trinity and Folsom (Bureau of Reclamation facilities) and Oroville (State Water Project) – are well below their historic storage levels for this date at 58, 68, 67 and 61 percent respectively.
DWR Director Mark Cowin said this week’s storms are providing some short-term gains, but the drought is far from being broken. “It’s as important as ever for Californians to conserve water,” he said. “We can do that by allowing Mother Nature to water lawns and landscapes and by turning off our automatic sprinklers to save water.”
Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. declared a state of drought emergency on January 17 and called on local water suppliers and municipalities to implement their water shortage contingency plans. He also directed State officials to respond to the state’s drought conditions by taking all necessary actions, including facilitating water transfers and reducing water use at government facilities. Visit Drought.CA.Gov to learn more about how California is dealing with the effects of the drought.
Electronic snowpack readings are available on the Internet at:
Electronic reservoir readings may be found at:
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