>Union Democrat | Sonora News, Sports, & Weather, Angels Camp, Twain Harte, Jamestown

Results of the state Department of Water Resource’s snow survey indicate lower-than-normal water content, but a definite improvement over last year’s result.

Readings taken Tuesday indicate the water content of the snowpack is 76 percent of normal for this date. That figure represents 10 inches of water yielded by 41 inches of snow.

Last year, the first test yielded water content at only 60 percent of normal.
 

“While the conditions are an improvement over last year’s initial snow survey, the strain on California’s water supply persists,” said agency director Lester Snow.

Senior state meteorologist Elissa Lynn said snowfall in the last two weeks has been promising, but the snowpack and water content is nowhere near making up the water supply deficit resulting from the past two dry years.

Forecasters, in fact, predict another dry winter because the central and eastern portions of the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean are cooler than normal, which experts say is usually a signal for dry weather in the Western United States.

The East Bay Municipal Utility District, which depends heavily on water stored in Calaveras County reservoirs, has urged its 1.2 million customers to cut water use by 19 percent in anticipation of a third dry season.

“It’s too early to know for sure,” Lynn said. “January and February are generally good producers of precipitation. We have a long way to go.”

March and April 2008 were the driest spring months on record in California, with runoff at only 57 percent of normal. Dry winter months result in very dry soil which soaks up water before it reaches reservoirs.

The National Weather Service said a small storm front is expected to come ashore in the Bay Area today and could bring tiny amounts of rain to the foothills.