California’s vital snowpack grew after February’s storms, but it is still only two-thirds of normal with just one month left in the rainy season.
The Department of Water Resources conducted its the third traditional manual survey of the season on Friday, finding 28 inches of snow at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada. That is 47% of average at the site, although statewide, the figure was 66%, up from 59% on Jan. 30.
“Although the storms we saw in mid-February were some of the coldest and best snow-producing storms we have seen since 2023, they were not enough to get us back to average conditions,” said Andy Reising, manager of DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Unit.
“The snowpack is in better shape than it was one month ago, but we only have a month left of our snow-accumulation season, and time is rapidly running out to catch up,” he said.
On average, the largest snow-producing months in the Sierra Nevada are December, January, February and March. Historically, the snowpack peaks around April 1, after which the snow melts and water runs off into California’s rivers and reservoirs.
While the snowpack remains below average, major reservoirs statewide are currently at 122% of average thanks to atmospheric river storms in prior years.
On average, the Sierra snowpack supplies about 30% of California’s water needs.