California water managers say Sierra Nevada snow drifts are at a drought-busting 173 percent of average, with the most snow recorded since 1995. State water managers poked rods into drifts as high as tree branches Thursday to measure the snowpack. The overall snowpack is vital to the state, providing a third of water supplies year-round. This year’s bountiful snowpack came thanks to one of the stormiest Januarys in decades. The storms brought three-fourths of the state’s normal yearly precipitation in just a few weeks.