Californians should prepare for a third straight drought year. That advice comes from the State Department of Water Resources following a manual snow survey earlier this week in the Sierra near Lake Tahoe.
Sean de Guzman is the manager of snow surveys for DWR. He says the snowpack is 63 percent of average for this date.
"December, January, and February are traditionally our three wettest months of the water year producing over half of our annual rainfall, however, this past January and February were actually the driest consecutive January and February on record dating back over 100 years in the Sierra Nevada."
There are no major storms in the forecast. DWR officials say the low snowpack ... combined with already low reservoir levels ... make it more critical than ever Californians step up their conservation efforts.
Governor Gavin Newsom has asked residents to cut back their water use by 15 percent, and this week’s survey is likely to add pressure to make the rationing mandatory.
