SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (KNX) — The Sierra Nevada snowpack, source of 30 percent of California's water supply, has hit one of its lowest wintertime levels in 70 years.
High temperatures and record drought conditions are to blame, officials said on Wednesday, after reveealing snow levels were just 39 percent of normal in the current season.
Last year, the snowpack was 62 percent of normal.
“There was so much fanfare in December about the drought being over,” said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Laboratory near Donner Summit west of Lake Tahoe, told Southern California News Group. “We had a record-breaking December and have gotten very little if anything since.”
If not for December's storms, the Sierra Nevada snowpack would be even lower at this point, officials said.
All of California’s 58 counties have been in a drought emergency since last year. Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the state's 420 largest water agencies to increase water conservation by ramping up to "Level Two" of their drought plans. There are six levels in all, with Level Six being the most severe.
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