{"id":18603,"date":"2017-01-03T07:58:51","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T07:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=18603"},"modified":"2017-01-03T07:58:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T07:58:51","slug":"california-snowpack-surveyed-as-indicator-of-drought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/business\/california-snowpack-surveyed-as-indicator-of-drought.html","title":{"rendered":"California snowpack surveyed as indicator of drought"},"content":{"rendered":"
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California snowpack surveyed as indicator of drought<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

California snowpack surveyed as indicator of drought:-<\/strong> Surveyors will plunge poles into the Sierra Nevada snowpack near Lake Tahoe on Tuesday, taking the season’s first measurement by hand of the snow’s water content as California flirts with a sixth year of drought.<\/span><\/p>\n

What they find in the snowpack between now and April 1 will guide state water managers in the nation’s most populous state that also leads in production of farming.<\/span><\/p>\n

Electronic monitors in late December showed the snowpack’s water content at just 72 percent of normal despite heavy rain. That figure dipped even lower during the holiday weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

The snowpack is vital because it provides roughly a third of California’s water by melting in warm, dry months, providing water for drinking, farming and wildlife.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the height of drought in 2015, surveyors stood on a dirt patch for the April 1 measurement at Phillips Station, finding the least snow since records had been taken in 1950.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gov. Jerry Brown responded by ordering residents statewide to use 25 percent less water, letting lawns turn brown \u2014 or tearing them out \u2014 and flushing toilets less often.<\/span><\/p>\n

The drought eased last year, and so did regulators. The State Water Resources Control Board in February will again consider the conditions, deciding whether the state needs to take a stronger role.<\/span><\/p>\n

“If the skies dry up, we’ll be looking at something different,” board chair Felicia Marcus said. “We’re playing this one moment to moment.”<\/span><\/p>\n

This wet season started strong. More rain fell in October than in three decades, raising the state’s major reservoirs in Northern California and hopes that the drought will soon end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doug Carlson, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Water Resources, said it is too early to predict. “It could change immediately and stop snowing and raining,” Carlson cautioned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Five straight years of drought depleted groundwater supplies. Some residents with dry wells mostly in Tulare County continue to live on bottled water \u2014 a sign that drought persists.<\/span><\/p>\n

San Joaquin Valley citrus farmer Brian Neufeld is hopeful. Looking east from his home, he sees the snowcapped Sierra peaks \u2014 a welcomed sight missing for several years.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We get more snowpack, and we have more water available when we need it later in the season,” Neufeld said. “I couldn’t be happier about it. I wish it would rain more.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/business\/article124223799.html<\/span><\/div>\n

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