Storms Boost California Snowpack to Nearly Double Average Level

California’s vital Sierra Nevada snowpack measured 197 percent of average on Tuesday in the aftermath of three weeks of storms — the highest level in more than a decade. Automated measuring stations showed 161 percent in the northern section, 195 percent in the central area and 240 percent in the south. Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the Department of Water Resources, said it’s too early to call the California drought over, but said the recent storms will do “quite a bit toward alleviating the drought impacts” in the hardest hit parts of the state