Snowpack Triples, Easing Drought Worry

After a bone dry December, a series of storms last month more than tripled California’s snowpack in the Sierra, easing worries that the state might be slipping toward drought.

A weekend storm dumped more than a foot of powder on the Sierra, boosting the critical snowpack on Monday to 70% of normal from an anemic 22% at the beginning of January.

The state’s water stewards, who keep a close watch on snow levels to gauge the amount of runoff that will be available during hot summer months, say a wet February and March will be needed to push totals back to normal.

“We need to be above normal for the rest of winter,” said Frank Gehrke, Department of Water Resources snow survey chief. “But we’re certainly doing better. It was pretty grim early in the month.”

Currently, the state’s reservoirs stand at about 115% of normal for this time of year. Water officials say it would take two consecutive dry years to significantly disrupt deliveries.

The snowfall has remained consistently undemocratic so far this winter, with the northern Sierra harder hit by storms than the south. On Monday, the snowpack in the northern part of the range was 80% of normal, while the central Sierra stood at 68% and the south trailed at 61%.

That disparity mirrored last year, when the north was wetter than normal and the south drier. Meteorologists say it is the result of a La Nina weather pattern that has had California in its grasp for the past two winters. In Los Angeles County, rainfall since July 1 is one-fifth of normal.

The slow start this winter comes after five straight years of wet weather that had farmers happy, ski resorts bustling and California’s vast network of reservoirs brimming with surplus water. Heavy rains also caused major flood damage in 1997 and 1998.

But 1999 ended with the sixth driest December on record, and storms skirted the state during the first week of January, prompting concerns that California might be heading into a prolonged dry spell. Ski resorts struggled to get by on man-made snow, while farmers in some areas took the extraordinary step of irrigating in mid-winter.

The storms in the weeks since have eased some of the fears, but farmers say much more precipitation is needed to ensure unimpeded water deliveries to agriculture.

“We obviously still have a long way to go,” said Bob Krauter, spokesman for the California Farm Bureau Federation.

At ski resorts, meanwhile, big snowfalls have covered up the rocks and pulled in hordes of tourists.

“In the last two weeks, we’ve received more than 13 feet of snow,” said Nicole Whichello, a Mammoth Mountain spokeswoman. “The mountain is just buried right now. Conditions are beautiful.”