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ECHO SUMMIT, Calif. (AP) — An an nouncement Wednesday that California's Sierra Nevada snowpack is a meager 15 inches in some places means bad news in a state dependent upon snowmelt to meet the water needs of 25 million people.
Resorts are suffering as skiers turn up their noses at manmade snow, especially after last year's prolific powder. And farmers are bracing for a tough summer.
Paltry snow means big worries this summer for California farmers in the Central Valley who depend on snowmelt delivered through aqueducts to irrigate the most prolific agricultural region in the nation.
Electronic measurements estimate the statewide snowpack at 37 percent of normal for this time of year and 23 percent of the average April 1 reading when the spring thaw starts. The 15 inches measured at Echo Summit near South Lake Tahoe contained just 3.8 inches of water.
“This is a little misleading because we only got most of the snow in the last few days and a couple of inches last night,” said Frank Tehrke, chief of snow survey for the California Department of Water Resources. “It's not encouraging for our reservoirs this summer.”
The monthly snowpack measurements are anticipated by water managers and users around the state, and Tehrke de scribed it as one of the top three driest since the department began taking measurements in 1946.
“So far, we just haven't received a decent number of winter storms,” DWR Director Mark Cowin said in a statement. He was more pessimistic than he had been a month earlier when he said that “we still have most of our winter ahead of us.”
After an encouraging start in October, the Sierra has benefited from just a handful of storms, with none producing the snowfall that state water managers want. Squaw Valley Resort recorded a cumulative 85 inches of snow so far this year, below its average of 450 inches and nowhere near the 810 inches recorded in last year's bountiful blanketing.
Resorts are suffering as skiers turn up their noses at manmade snow, especially after last year's prolific powder. And farmers are bracing for a tough summer.
Paltry snow means big worries this summer for California farmers in the Central Valley who depend on snowmelt delivered through aqueducts to irrigate the most prolific agricultural region in the nation.
Electronic measurements estimate the statewide snowpack at 37 percent of normal for this time of year and 23 percent of the average April 1 reading when the spring thaw starts. The 15 inches measured at Echo Summit near South Lake Tahoe contained just 3.8 inches of water.
“This is a little misleading because we only got most of the snow in the last few days and a couple of inches last night,” said Frank Tehrke, chief of snow survey for the California Department of Water Resources. “It's not encouraging for our reservoirs this summer.”
The monthly snowpack measurements are anticipated by water managers and users around the state, and Tehrke de scribed it as one of the top three driest since the department began taking measurements in 1946.
“So far, we just haven't received a decent number of winter storms,” DWR Director Mark Cowin said in a statement. He was more pessimistic than he had been a month earlier when he said that “we still have most of our winter ahead of us.”
After an encouraging start in October, the Sierra has benefited from just a handful of storms, with none producing the snowfall that state water managers want. Squaw Valley Resort recorded a cumulative 85 inches of snow so far this year, below its average of 450 inches and nowhere near the 810 inches recorded in last year's bountiful blanketing.
