Storms That Have Helped NW Snowpack Have Missed California

The storms that have dumped a lot of snow in the Northwest mountains, allowing area snowpacks to rebound to average for this time of year, have done nothing for the Golden State.

“California cannot get a flake of snow or really drop of rain at least in the key watershed areas,” said USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  “And as a result, we have not seen any accumulations of snow-pack to speak of since mid-January, and really very little accumulation going all the way back to late December.”

“And consequently the average water equivalency of the Sierra Nevada snow-pack remains stuck at 12” the typical accumulation for an entire season is very close to 30 inches,” Rippey continued.

California is roughly 2/3 of the way through the "wet season" which means the snow pack water equivalency this time of year should be around 20".

“So it is looking increasingly likely barring a big change in weather patterns in March that we will see a sub-normalcy snow-pack in the Sierra Nevada this year.” Rippey said.

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