For the first day of March, the Sierra snowpack continues to build during one of the wettest winters in California’s recorded history. In the Northern Sierra, it’s now 159% of average. Statewide, it’s 185%, after it was only 64% two months ago. The longtime chief of the snow survey program for the Department of Water Resources is Frank Gehrke. He says there’s already the potential for adequate water supplies for two summers, depending on how the rest of the season goes…

click to listen to Frank Gehrke

Oroville reservoir is now at 110% of average, it’s 114% for Shasta dam. Meanwhile, the Central and Southern Sierra ranges, which suffered even more from the 5-year drought, are at 191 and 201% of average. Gehrke says that’s tracking close to the wettest season on record, which was in 1983. But he’s not sure that record will be broken…

click to listen to Frank Gehrke

The snowpack supplies about 30% of California’s water needs as it melts in spring and summer. As for whether this season should be considered a drought buster, Gehrke says while surface water supplies are extremely good it will take longer for the groundwater depletion to recover, and some areas may never fully recover.