Overview
- Manual measurements at Phillips Station near Lake Tahoe found 23 inches of snow depth, about 46% of the site’s average.
- Regional readings show sharper deficits in the north at roughly 43–44% of average, about 59–60% in the central Sierra, and roughly 77–78% in the south.
- State water officials report no significant storms in the next one to two weeks, narrowing the window for a February–March rebound before the typical April 1 peak.
- Major reservoirs remain well above average, with Shasta around 124–125% and Oroville about 138% of typical storage for late January.
- The Department of Water Resources raised projected municipal water deliveries to 30% of requests, as the snowpack that normally supplies nearly one-third of California’s water remains low and the U.S. Drought Monitor still shows no drought in the state.