California's water year is off to a slow start. That's been the feeling, now confirmed by the first Sierra snowpack survey of the year conducted near Lake Tahoe.
The manual measurement results were a big letdown from last year's record snowpack. Only seven and a half inches of snow on the ground, with a snow water equivalent of just three inches. That's 30 percent of average for this month at that location.
The electronic readings from 129 other stations throughout the state were even grimmer — 25 percent of average, up against 185 percent of average on this date last year.
Andrew Schwartz with U.C. Berkeley's Central Sierra Snow Lab says it's a pendulum swing caused by climate change — only one year in the last ten has been near average.
"Our snow season is shortening," he said. "October and November used to be dominantly snowfall at the snow lab, and we've seen October switch to rainfall, as well as May. We're also seeing that happening throughout the season, even in the coldest months."
Sometimes, rain follows snow in winter — melting what snowpack there is. That's a problem, as the state relies on snowpack melting gradually as spring turns to summer. The Sierra snowpack supplies about 30 percent of the state’s water needs.
The state Department of Water Resources says it's too soon to tell how this winter will stack up — there are three surveys left, in February, March, and April — and an active El Nino pattern in the Pacific. But Schwartz cautions that El Nino does not necessarily guarantee snow.
