The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is at or near zero percent of average across the state. And at Success Lake, large releases have already started for irrigation. In all of the Northern Sierra in the Lake Tahoe area as of Tuesday there was officially no measurable snow. While patches of snow are still visible at the highest levels in the Lake Tahoe area the State Department of Water Resources reported on Tuesday the snowpack level in the Northern Sierra for April 1 and June 16 were both at zero percent of average. In past years it wasn’t uncommon to see patches of snow in the northern Sierra Nevada until mid-August. Locally the situation is a little better in the Southern Sierra but not much. In the Southern Sierra Nevada as of Tuesday the snowpack was at 3 percent of average for April 1 and 15 percent of average for June 16.

Other water supply and irrigation news:

• Santa Monica Daily Press (Calif.): Santa Monica Council adopts water outlook projecting a surplus through 2027
• AgAlert (California Farm Bureau): Water uniformity tool helps farmers identify savings  
• Maven’s Notebook: Blog: California’s shifting snowpack and the growing water gap