It’s now March in California, which means the wettest stretch of the water year – December, January, and February – have come and gone. It’s the time of year when we take stock of the winter that was, and what that means for our water resources. … The three biggest reservoirs – Shasta, Trinity, and Oroville, all in Northern California – are nearly at capacity and well above average. … Statewide, California’s snowpack is at 62% of the March 2nd average, and 55% of April 1st average. So essentially, we’ve received half of the snow we’d expect to get. But even that is somewhat remarkable, considering the Sierra had its lowest snowpack on record before the big Christmas week snowstorm.

Other snowpack and water supply news around the West:

• Denver Gazette (Colo.): Colorado back to setting records as snowpack slips below historical lows (again)
• KUTV (Salt Lake City, Utah): Utah snowpack numbers looking dismal with not much time to catch up
• FOX40 (Sacramento, Calif.): Despite storms, snowpack still substandard
• The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.): Low snowpack, higher temperatures cause concern for scientists, farmers
• The Sacramento Bee (Calif.): California is drought-free after February rains. How are snowpack, lake levels?
• Sierra Club: Blog: Western snow drought threatens ski season and much more