California drought deepens as the wet season is anything but
SACRAMENTO — California is experiencing one of the driest starts to spring in decades, data showed, Friday, and absent a heavy dose of April and May showers, the state’s drought will deepen and that could lead to stricter rules on water use and another devastating wildfire season.
New readings showed the water in California’s mountain snowpack sat at 38% of average. That’s the lowest mark since the end of the last drought, in 2015; only twice since 1988 has the level been lower.
State officials highlighted the severity of the dismal water numbers as they stood at a snow measuring station south of Lake Tahoe, where the landscape included more grass than snow. At the deepest point measured there, there was just 2.5 inches of snow.
“You need no more evidence than standing here on this very dry landscape to understand some of the challenges we’re facing here in California,” said Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources. “All Californians need to do their part.”
Nearly all of California and much of the US West is in severe to extreme drought, according to the US Drought Monitor. Last July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked people to cut their water use by 15% compared to 2020 levels, but so far consumption is down just 6%. State reservoirs are filled far below normal levels.
About a third of California’s water supply comes from the snow as it melts and trickles into rivers and reservoirs. April 1 is when the snowpack typically is at its peak and the date is used as a benchmark to predict the state’s water supply in the drier, hotter spring and summer months. The next few weeks will be critical to understanding how much of the melting snow is ending up in state reservoirs instead of evaporating or seeping into parched ground.
“The big unknown is how much of that water will make it into the reservoirs,” said Sean de Guzman, manager of snow surveys for the state Department of Water Resources.
The nearly 11 inches worth of water sitting in snow in the Sierra Nevada along California’s eastern edge is the lowest reading since the depth of the last drought seven years ago, when California ended winter with just 5% of the normal water levels in the mountains, according to the department.
The numbers mark a disappointing end to California’s winter, which began with heavy December storms that put the snowpack at 160% of the average. But there has been little precipitation since Jan. 1.