SACRAMENTO – (INT) – A late December snowstorm prevented the season’s first Sierra snowpack survey from being any worse.

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) determined that the statewide snowpack is just 52% of average for this time of year.

On average, the Sierra snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s annual water needs.

“There is a lot of winter still ahead,” said Sean de Guzman, chief of DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section. “While the dry conditions during late summer and fall have led to a below average snowpack, it is still encouraging to have the amount of snow we already have with two of the three typically wettest months still to come.”

Story Date: January 14, 2021