When snow surveyors headed into the Sierra Nevada on Friday for the first measurement of the season, they found the snowpack just one-fifth of normal for the date.
Although no one is declaring an official drought, it is a dry start to the season, and without more storms, the mountains could yield just 7 percent of the usual spring snowmelt that feeds the state’s rivers and reservoirs for farms and cities.
“We are concerned about the slow start to the winter,” said Ted Thomas, spokesman for the state Department of Water Resources.
Mother Nature may still surprise us — a handful of large winter storms can make the difference between a wet year and a dry one. About half of the years with similarly dry first quarters caught up to average by the end of the season, Thomas said. In 1991, a torrential “Miracle March” produced enough snow and rain to wash away several years of drought.
But he worries. “We have had two back-to-back dry years, and a third one will really increase the detrimental effects.” The National Weather Service forecasts a “slight chance” of snow showers around Echo Summit on Tuesday through Thursday, but no storms are in sight.
The nine inches of snow atop the testing site yielded only 2.3 inches of water. By comparison, the average Jan. 1 snowpack water content there is about 12 inches, and the April 1 average is 27.6 inches. Last year at this date, winter was off to a normal start, with 12.1 inches of water in 48.8 inches of snow.
Friday’s manual measurement confirms electronic readings at the state’s 108 stations, which also show that the equivalent of two inches of rain and snow have fallen so far around the state, on average, only 19 percent of normal for the season.
The snowpack, dubbed California’s “frozen reservoir” by water officials, is measured at Echo Summit’s Phillips Station off Highway 50, which at 6,800 feet elevation is considered a reliable indicator of how much water will be available during the spring, summer and fall.
The year 2013 was one for the record books — in many parts of the state, it was the driest calendar year since 1877 when official measurements began. One of California’s wettest spots in Del Norte County, with an average annual rainfall of nearly 100 inches, ended the year with less than half as much — 43.46 inches.
This could influence the outcome of an important water-related issues in Sacramento this year, such as a $11 billion water bond on the November ballot to Gov. Jerry Brown’s hotly debated plan for “twin tunnels” through the Delta to route mountain water to cities and farms.
Statewide, the Department of Water Resources estimates that right now it will be able deliver just 5 percent of normal supplies needed by the public agencies that supply water to 25 million Californians and nearly a million acres of irrigated farmland.
But that’s just a preliminary worst-case scenario that could improve as winter storms develop.
Lake Oroville in Butte County, the state’s principal reservoir, is at 36 percent of capacity; San Luis Reservoir is at 30 percent. The effect of two dry years on statewide groundwater levels are also evident, with a decline of more than 50 feet in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, where irrigators have increased pumping to make up for water delivery shortfalls.
The city of Folsom, which takes it water from the American River, is already rationing.
Contact Lisa M. Krieger at 650-492-4098.
