Snowpack in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada shrank during warm February weather, said the USDA in its third forecast of snow and water conditions in the West. “Snowpack in Nevada, Utah and Idaho also fell further behind normal,” said a USDA release with the headline, “Record low snowpack in Cascades, Sierra Nevada.” USDA hydrologist Cara McCarthy said nearly one-third of the automated snow-measurement stations in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada reported the lowest snowpack ever. “For the first time, some sites were snow-free on March 1.” California, the No. 1 farm state, is in the fourth year of drought.
Streamflow in the West is supplied largely by snow that melts as temperatures rise in the spring and summer. The USDA conducts monthly snowpack surveys until June each year to estimate water supplies.