Final Snow Pack Results: Not Good; Drought Persists

The Water Content Of The State's Snowpack Actually Shrank In The Final Month Of Winter, From 80 Percent Of Normal On April 1 To 66 Percent Of Normal Recorded Thursday In The State's Final Snow Survey Of The Season.
The water content of the state’s snowpack actually shrank in the final month of winter, from 80 percent of normal on April 1 to 66 percent of normal recorded Thursday in the state’s final snow survey of the season.  The cause: a heat wave and high winds that essentially evaporated the Sierra Nevada snowpack, the state’s most important water supply. We’re also ending the winter in worse shape than 2008. The winter snowpack at this time last year was recorded at 72 percent of normal.  Elissa Lynn, senior meteorologist at the state Department of Water Resources, said California needed 120 percent of normal snowfall to recover from the last two dry years. “We way missed that mark,” she said. “Things actually got worse in April.”

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