Water content of California s early winter snowpack lagging bakersfield.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bakersfield.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Sean de Guzman of the Department of Water Resources for California at Phillips.
PHILLIPS STATIONS, Calif. - The Sierra snow pack was measured at 93 percent of average on Thursday at Phillips Station, west of Lake Tahoe, the first of the winter 2020 snow pack surveys.
A team from California Department of Water Resources (DWR) found 30.5 inches of snow with 10.5 inches of snow water equivalent (SWE).
The SWE measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack, which provides a more accurate forecast of spring runoff. Measurements from the 130 electronic snow sensors, scattered throughout the state, indicate that the statewide snowpack’s water equivalent is 15.2 inches, or 53 percent of the April average.
December storms not enough to offset dry fall
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Sean de Guzman, chief of the California Department of Water Resources Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section, conducts the first media snow survey of the 2021 season on Dec. 30 at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada
Kelly M. Grow, California Department of Water Resources/Courtesy photo
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SACRAMENTO The Department of Water Resources on Wednesday conducted the first Phillips Station snow survey of the season.
The manual survey recorded 30.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 10.5 inches, which is 93 percent of the Jan. 1 average for this location. The snow-water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water supply forecast. While conditions were positive at Phillips Station, statewide, the snowpack is just 52% of average for this date.