California is getting plenty of rain this winter — but what’s really needed is snow. While record high temperatures have ensured that a series of massive Pacific storms known as atmospheric rivers dump heavy rain across the West, the balmy weather has led to one of the lowest snow covers since 2001. The forecast calls for more rain this week. With all the warmth, precipitation has fallen as rain instead of snow across many basins, leading to snow drought … The threats created by lack of snow in winter or limited overall precipitation are actually similar: wildfires, future drought and low reservoir levels. The West’s water supplies are built on snow, which provides California with 30 percent of its supply. 

Other snowpack news around the West:

• San Francisco Chronicle: Tahoe is about to get a huge snowstorm — finally. Here’s when and how much snow
• AP News: Warm weather and low snowpack bedevil Western ski resorts
• Denver Gazette (Colo.): Christmas Eve snow storm in Colorado could bring 12″ of snow over 3-day time span