Latest winter storm boosts California’s astounding snowpack; drought conditions improving

Source: KTLA

Latest winter storm boosts California’s astounding snowpack; drought conditions improving Marc Sternfield %%item_date%% %%item_source%%
New data shows California’s already epic snowpack, not surprisingly, has improved even more thanks to last week’s winter storm that buried the Sierra Nevada mountain range under several additional feet of snow.

As of Monday, California’s snow water equivalent was 181% of normal for Feb. 27 and already 156% of a full season’s average, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

The latest storm increased the state’s snow water equivalent by around four inches, to 40.6″.

Snow water equivalent is a hydrology term for water depth if the snow was liquid.

The Northern Sierra/Trinity region is 144% of normal. The Central Sierra is 185% and the Southern Sierra mountains are an astounding 219% of normal and nearly double – 191% of a full season’s average.

While meteorologists aren’t saying this winter will be a drought-buster, regionally, snowpack across the Mountain West continues to run well above average and should go a long way toward easing drought conditions.

Thanks to California’s extraordinarily wet winter, several regions of the Golden State including the Central Coast and Central Sierra, are no longer considered to be in a drought.

More significant snow is in the forecast for this week.