Surveyors are taking the winter season’s first measurement of the Sierra Nevada snowpack as California starts the New Year marking its sixth year of drought.

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.

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.

But a series of storms is expected to change those levels as meteorologists expect several feet of snow in the Sierra this week.

“This is what we’re supposed to be getting,” said Johnnie Powell, a weather forecaster with the National Weather Service. “After six years of a drought, I love saying that. This is normal rain and snow that we’re supposed to be getting in December and January.”

More details here.

Source: Los Angeles Times