State officials said the first manual reading of snow levels will take place this week. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is a crucial source of water for the state, supplying about 30 percent of the water used in the late spring and early summer.
The snowpack last year was at record low levels. Thanks to a series of winter storms, things are looking a little bit better, but officials say California still need a lot more rain to really put a dent on the drought. A team of scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab calculated that the state would need 11 trillion gallons of water to recover from the 3-year drought – that’s about 130,000 Rose Bowls full of water.
Guests:
Doug Carlson, Information Officer, CA Department of Water Resources
Frank Gehrke, Chief, California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program at the Department of Water Resources