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The first snowpack survey of 2017 found below average numbers on Tuesday. The Phillips station in El Dorado County reported just 53 percent of the average for this time of the year, according to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). Here’s what Tuesday’s measurement means.The state is measuring the water content in the snowpack, which is essentially how much water exists if the snow were to melt instantaneously. The average for early-January is 11.3 inches. Tuesday’s measurement reported just 6 inches of water content.

Around the start of each year, California water officials make a big show out of measuring the Sierra Nevada snowpack for reporters. Tuesday’s measurement before a throng of cameras was fairly bleak: Water content in the snowpack stood at just 53 percent of average, about a third as much water as the same time last year at that site. But as snowflakes drifted down, Frank Gehrke, director of snow surveys for the Department of Water Resources, struck a positive tone after taking the state’s first official manual snowpack reading of 2017 near Echo Summit.

Gusty winds that blew into the Sacramento area Tuesday afternoon are expected to accompany rain into Wednesday. The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for the Central Valley and foothills, effective until 7 a.m. Wednesday, with a forecast for south winds of 15 to 30 mph and gusts up to 45 mph. Tuesday’s storm brought rain to Sacramento and snow to the Sierra. As of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, downtown Sacramento had recorded 0.36 inches of rain since midnight, with 0.38 reported at Sacramento Executive Airport, said Johnnie Powell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Sacramento International Airport recorded 0.72 inches, while 0.51 inches was reported in Roseville.

The $10 billion Congressional water bill that was approved last month transfers federal control of some water supplies in California to water authorities at the state level and provides funds for some badly needed structures is being applauded by farmers both north and south. President Obama signed the bill Dec. 16.  Sweeping victories by Republicans in the November elections that gave them majorities in the House and Senate as well as the presidency have brought dramatic changes in the ways California’s water resources — much of them stored or conveyed in federally financed structures — will be allocated.

 

Here in the land of beauty and make-believe, it’s important to keep up appearances. Tracy Quinn sees it whenever she walks her dog: sprinklers irrigating pretty green lawns and wasted water bleeding across sidewalks during the state’s driest spell in centuries. “It drives me crazy,” said Quinn, a water policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.