Just a couple weeks ago, the Phillips Station site near Lake Tahoe — the location where California officials conduct regular manual snowpack surveys — was dry ground. But that’s changed. On a sunny day near the end of December, the site was blanked by a couple feet of snow. But officials say the state is still below average. Researchers with the state’s Department of Water Resources reported a snow depth of 24 inches at Phillips Station. That’s 50 percent of average for this site. Statewide, snowpack levels are at 71 percent of average for this date. 

Other snowpack news around the West: 

• Los Angeles Times: Recent storms boosted California’s snowpack, but there’s still a long way to go
• The Sacramento Bee (Calif.): Sierra snowpack arrives with storms — but first survey shows Northern California lags
• KUNC (Greeley, Colo.): Colorado ends 2025 with extremely low snowpack
• Summit Daily (Colo.): Summit County enters new year with lowest snowpack on record after unseasonably warm December that set records
• KPCW (Park City, Utah): Slow winter windup leaves Utah’s snowpack near record low