The winter of 2024-25 got off to a great start after several storms at the start of the season helped build up the statewide snowpack in California to 108% by January 1.
January took a dry turn, though, dropping the Northern Sierra back to near average for snowpack by the end of the month. Elsewhere, the Central Sierra fell to 58% of the average, and the Southern Sierra Nevada dropped to just under 50% of the average.
“Despite a good start to the snowpack in the Northern Sierra in November and December, we can look back as recently as 2013 and 2021 to show how quickly conditions can change for the drier,” said California’s Department of Water Resources director Karla Nemeth.
“California missed out on critical snow-building storms in January, which has pushed the state down below average for this time of year. While we are excited to see some storm activity in the coming days, sustained periods of no precipitation can dry the state out very quickly. For each day it’s not snowing or raining, we are not keeping up with what we need.”
Snowpack in the Sierra improved a bit by the second week of March but was still below average overall. The Northern Sierra snow water equivalent was near normal. The Central and Southern Sierra snow water equivalent was 81% of the average. This “frozen reservoir” is an essential supplier of California’s water.
https://www.thecooldown.com/outdoors/sierra-nevada-snowpack-california-drought/