The National Weather Service says rainy season is off to its wettest start in the northern Sierra Nevada in 30 years, with about twice as much precipitation as usual since the Oct. 1 start of the water year, says the Sacramento Bee. Even so, the state Department of Water Resources says customers of the State Water Project can expect to receive 20 percent of the water they requested for 2017.
The 20 percent allocation is twice as large as customers were told to expect at this point a year ago. “It shows that reservoir managers are still conservative,” said the Bee. Precipitation in the northern Sierras is important because mountain snowpack is a major source of water throughout the state during the warm months.
Weather Service forecaster Travis Wilson said the two-month wet spell “doesn’t guarantee you anything” about the rest of the rainy season or the course of the drought, now five years old. The state will begin snowpack measurements in late December or early January, which usually is the wettest month of the year. The snowpack is deepest in April, just before the thaw begins, said the Bee.