News Release: First Snow Survey of 2014 Shows Dry Conditions
From the California Department of Water Resources (DWR):
“As California’s dry weather pushes into the new year, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) today [Jan. 3] announced that its first snow survey of the winter found more bare ground than snow.
Manual and electronic readings record the snowpack’s statewide water content at about 20 percent of average for this time of year. That is a mere 7 percent of the average April 1 measurement, when the snowpack normally is at its peak before melting into streams and reservoirs to provide a third of the water used by California’s cities and farms. …
“The last time California’s statewide snowpack was this dry was in 2012 when it also was 20 percent of the historical average. The readings today and in 2012 are the driest on record.”
Read more from DWR’s news release