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California's snowpack is slightly below normal, more winter storms needed
A screenshot from a livestream of a team from the California Department of Water Resources performing their first snow survey of the season at Philips Station, just south of Lake Tahoe on Jan. 2, 2025.
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California Department of Water Resources
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The results from the first snow survey of the season are in. Officials from the California Department of Water Resources performed the survey just south of Lake Tahoe and found that the snowpack is about 10% below normal.
The survey took place at Phillips Station, which is just one of the 260 survey sites across the state.
According to the department's automated sensors, the Northern Sierra is at 161% of normal for this date, the Central Sierra is at 94% and the Southern Sierra is at just 75%, showing how wildly varied this rainy season has been at different latitudes.
These measurements are critical as they show the status of one of California's biggest sources of water.
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“Feeling good today, but we need to see some more storms coming,” said Andy Reising, manager of snow surveys and water supply forecasting for the California Department of Water Resources. "Otherwise, we’ll end up below average by the end of the year.”
The most important snow survey takes place on April 1, when the snowpack tends to peak. Only then will we have a good idea of what we're dealing with through the dry months of the year.
.Things can change quickly over the course of a rainy season. Last year, statewide snowpack started out at 28% of average, but ended slightly above average.
Here in the southern part of the state, moderate drought conditions have returned, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. It's been more than 260 days since the last big showing of rain for places like Los Angeles County.
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