Twelve months ago, California was entering year three of an extended drought. On the heels of the driest January-April period in 128 years, the state’s two largest reservoirs were down to critically low levels and a skimpy snowpack meant little additional water was on the way. … This year has been a complete turnaround. Storms drenched California for months and piled on epic amounts of snow in the Sierra Nevada. The state’s May 1 snowpack clocked in at 254% of average for the date. California regularly sees variability in Sierra snow from season to season, or a “snowpack whiplash.” … Satellite images show how much California’s snowpack, in white, varied from 2000 to 2023.

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