According to KCRA meteorologist Mark Finan, California needs to have a 150% of average snowpack on April 1st to break the current drought.
That equates to about 25-feet of snow between today and April 1st. That means we need 25-feet of snow in 42 days… Fingers crossed for a BIG March.
“Sierra snowpack and the Drought….
A lot of people ask about what it will take to end the drought in California. Water managers tell us that a snowpack of 150% of average will go a long way to getting our water supply back to a healthy level. So what would that look like?
The target date for the ‘end of the snow season’ is April 1 so we look to the average water content for that date. 100% of average is roughly 30”. Not talking snow depth, we’re talking water content. That means that if you melted a column of snow it would melt down to 30” of water and that would be ‘average for April 1.
Simple math tells us that 150% of average is 45” of water.
As of todaty, the statewide water content of the snowpack is 20”. That means we need 25” of water in the Sierra between now and April 1.
On average, the water content of water to snow in a Sierra storm is about 10-12:1…. that means 10-12” of snow yields about 1” of water.
That means we need about 25 feet of snow in the next 6 weeks. 25 feet.
We need to get the snow machine going.” – KCRA Meteorologist Mark Finan
Do you believe?