Where California's Snowpack And Reservoirs Stand As More Storms Lash The State

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California's snowpack is lagging behind the average pace, but reservoir levels and longer-range forecasts suggest plenty of additional mountain snow and rain is ahead through the rest of the state's wet season into spring.

S​nowpack status: As of Feb. 15, the water content of California's snowpack stood at 77% of average for this time of year, according to data from the state's Department of Water Resources. The northern Sierra had the most, with less snowpack in the central and southern Sierra.

T​hese values were less than half of what was in place one year ago, a winter in which snowpack set records from January into spring following a series of major atmospheric river storms.

W​hy it matters: Snowpack acts as a water-storing "frozen reservoir." It typically peaks around April 1, after which the water is released when it melts in spring and summer.

Sierra snowpack supplies about 30% of California's water, according to the CDWR. This snowmelt feeds into the State Water Project, providing water to 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland in California.

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Reservoirs in good shape: Water levels in California's major reservoirs are much higher than usual for this time of year. Some reservoirs, such as lakes Oroville and New Melones, are 30% to 40% higher than average for mid-February.

T​hat's due to both snowmelt and heavy rain from last winter's atmospheric river parade, plus whatever rain has fallen so far from this season's storms.

Ground is soaked, too: A succession of heavy rain events from January through mid-February has left the soil soggier than usual, particularly from the Bay Area along the Central Coast into Southern California, according to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

T​his means it would take even less rain than usual to run off and trigger flash flooding, especially in higher terrain where it's too warm to snow, as well as urban areas.

L​ast month, San Diego had its heaviest day of rain (2.73 inches on Jan. 22) in almost 98 years. Just two weeks later, a second flood event hit the city's Fashion Valley. In early February, downtown Los Angeles had its second-heaviest 24-hour rainfall on record, triggering flooding and landslides throughout the Southland.

Drought was wiped out*: Given all this, it's no surprise California's drought was erased last year, though long-term challenges remain with groundwater supplies depleted in past droughts in the 2010s.

Outlook still looks wet: NOAA's latest outlook calls for a wetter than usual March in California and other parts of the Great Basin and Rockies.

C​alifornia's wet season then usually tails off quickly in April, headed toward the heart of its summer dry season.

California's short-term water supply concerns appear to be minimal given what could be a continued procession of Pacific storms into March.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. His lifelong love of meteorology began with a close encounter with a tornado as a child in Wisconsin. He completed a Bachelor's degree in physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, then a Master's degree working with dual-polarization radar and lightning data at Colorado State University. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on X (formerly Twitter), Threads, Facebook and Bluesky.

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