California storms bring optimism for state water reserves

BERKELEY, Calif. (CN) — Weeks of heavy rain and snowfall in California have given experts "cautious optimism" about the state's water year and a snowpack to help boost water reserves recovering from years of drought.

Dr. Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist and manager at University of California, Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Laboratory, said that in the last eight days the Sierra Nevada mountain range has received an average of 44 inches of snow. Despite a slow start, the state has received about 92% of the expected snowfall for the water year — more than 180 inches so far.

“Northern California is still the highest at 100% of average,” he said. “They got a lot of extra precipitation early on compared to the central and southern Sierra.”

However, Schwartz said the latter regions are recovering in a “fantastic” fashion thanks to recent storms. The southern Sierra, which suffered the most in previous droughts, was around 10% below other parts of the Sierra in January, but now measures at 5% behind the central and 21% behind the northern ranges.

“Systems are built a little better down south to handle rainfall than for snow,” he said. “If they don't get that additional rain, then we will just cross our fingers that there is good snowfall everywhere.”

The state has 86% of its overall needed precipitation to date, and is sitting at 69% of the April 1 average. Schwartz said California's water reservoir storage is looking “terrific,” with all reservoirs at or above historical averages.

“Last year’s water is paying dividends,” he said.

Other than some northern portions of Wyoming, Idaho and Washington state, much of the West has seen relief from dry conditions, he said.

“We’ve come a long way,” Schwartz said. “There’s a lot of benefit sitting in the last six weeks of precipitation, in terms of bulking up our water resources. I’m very optimistic compared to where we were six weeks ago.”

Still, the water year must continue to be wet, he said. To go dry now would wear greatly on the state’s precious snowpack. 

There are five weeks to build the state’s snowpack before melting typically begins, and it is unclear how much precipitation is on the way aside from a weak system late in the weekend, he said. Another storm system could be on the horizon in the coming week which could bring heavier snowfall and rain particularly in Northern California.

“We’ve been clawing our way back, and that’s fantastic, but we do need the storms to continue,” Schwartz said. 

This week, the state Department of Water Resources boosted water allocations for 2024 to 15% of requested supplies, up from the 10% allocation announced in December. That totals about 200,000 acre-feet of additional water for 29 public water agencies which serve 27 million Californians.

“This season is an important reminder of our extreme conditions and shift to bigger, flashier storms and the need to continue increasing the state’s ability to capture and store stormwater when it comes as rain instead of snow," said department director Karla Nemeth.

The state will conduct its next snowpack survey March 1. The State Water Project may revise the forecasted water allocation again in mid-March. 

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