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Snowpack Totals are Good News, and California May Relax Water-Savings Rules

An atypical El Niño storm system brought Northern California’s snowpack close to normal, disappointing news for state water surveyors but an improvement some officials say may justify an easing of conservation requirements.

On Wednesday, the state Department of Water Resources measured the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, east of Sacramento, and found it was 97 percent of historical averages. Statewide, the snowpack is 87 percent of average.

State Snowpack has Changed a lot in the Last Year — as have Californians’ Attitude Toward Water

One year ago Friday, Frank Gehrke hiked out to Phillips Station and stuck a tube onto a tuft of brownish-green grass. There was no snow, but Gehrke had quite an audience.

A gaggle of reporters and even Gov. Jerry Brown had assembled at the outpost 90 miles from Sacramento to watch Gehrke work and bear witness to the severity of California’s drought.What followed was a historic executive order from Brown that required a statewide 25% cut in urban water use and set in motion a fundamental rethinking about how Californians use the precious resource.

Improved California Spring Snowpack Won’t End Drought

State drought surveyors will trudge through deep snow Wednesday to manually measure what could be close to a normal Sierra Nevada snowpack for this time of year.

A year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown stood on the same spot — then a dusty patch of ground with no snow — to announce that the dire drought required residents to cut back water use by 25 percent. Statewide, the snowpack was then at 5 percent, marking a record low.

California Seeks Hearing Delay for Giant Water Tunnels

California and federal officials want to delay crucial hearings on Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to build two giant water tunnels to help move water from Northern California.

The 60-day delay was sought Monday by the Brown administration and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It was the second request for a delay of the hearings, currently set for May. Officials said they wanted time to try to deal with objections to the project by Northern California water districts, environmental groups and others, the Sacramento Bee reported (http://bit.ly/22KUXpY ).

Uneven El Niño Skewed North, But Water Restrictions May Ease In Parts Of CA

With just weeks left in California’s rainy season, El Niño has distributed uneven relief to an arid state. As a result, regulators must consider lifting state water restrictions that took effect last April in some places and not in others, the Chronicle explains.

“February was incredibly warm and dry,” David Pierce, a researcher at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, recalled to the Atlantic earlier this month. “If you look at the curves of El Niño, February to April is when we see rainy years differentiate themselves. It’s already March. There’s another six weeks of wet season, then that’s all she wrote.”

Survey Finds Nearly Average California Snowpack, Setting Stage for Tough Decision on Water Conservation

Survey finds nearly average California snowpack, setting stage for tough decision on water conservation.

Dianne Feinstein Says Water Wars Tougher Than Assault-Weapons Ban

Moments before release of a crucial snowpack survey Wednesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein warned against loosening the mandatory water restrictions imposed last year by Gov. Jerry Brown. “I think it’s premature right now,” the California Democrat said Wednesday afternoon. “I think we need to see what happens in April … an important month for water.”

Feinstein met with The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board to build support for her latest big piece of water legislation. Feinstein, who wants to spend up to $1.3 billion for desalination, recycling, storage and grants, said in long run the objective is to be prepared as the state population grows and the climate changes.

Sierra Snowpack Shows El Niño Not as Beastly as Billed

The blame for California’s below-average snowpack was placed Wednesday at the feet of a largely impotent El Niño, which failed to deliver the powerful storms forecasters expected.

Snow surveyors for the California Department of Water Resources found that the water content of the Sierra snow is only 87 percent of the historical average for this time of year. That’s a bug drop from January when the “frozen water supply,” as it is called by hydrologists, was well above normal.

Critical Sierra Survey Finds Healthy Snowpack – But No ‘Drought Buster’

After years of drought and months of speculation about how much precipitation a strong El Niño weather pattern would bring, the results are in:

We’ve had a roughly average year. On about this date last year, Gov. Jerry Brown stood in a dry field near Lake Tahoe and announced that he would require California’s urban water districts to cut use by 25 percent. Snowpack on that day was roughly 5 percent of normal.

Improved California Spring Snowpack Won’t End Drought

State drought surveyors will trudge through deep snow Wednesday to manually measure what could be close to a normal Sierra Nevada snowpack for this time of year.

A year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown stood on the same spot — then a dusty patch of ground with no snow — to announce that the dire drought required residents to cut back water use by 25 percent.