As expected, it’s a good-looking snowpack in the Sierra so far. The first official survey of the season, conducted by the Department of Water Resources, shows that the water content in the Northern Sierra is 108-percent of the historical average. It was only 57-percent a year ago. Department Information Officer Doug Carlson says that’s encouraging, but winter is barely underway…

click to listen to Doug Carlson

Forecasters also stated, before the rainy season began, that the snowpack would need to be 150-percent of average by the last survey of the season in April to come close to ending four years of drought…

click to listen to Doug Carlson

Meanwhile, storage levels at the major north state reservoirs are still worse than a year ago. Lake Shasta is at only 51-percent of average, compared to 66-percent last year. It’s just 47-percent at Lake Oroville, compared to 62-percent a year ago.