State water officials continue to encourage Californians to keep conserving as a warm and dry February left the statewide snowpack below the average for the start of March. The snowpack was just 83% of the March 1 average, the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) reported in a news release following its third snowpack survey of the season. “The statewide readings suggest this may not be a drought-busting year unless California receives heavy rain this month as it did during the ‘March Miracles’ of 1991 and 1995,” stated the DWR news release. DWR said half the state’s annual water falls as rain or snow in December, January and February. Although precipitation in December and January was well above the two-month average, rainfall in October, November and February was far below normal, as was snowfall since December 1, DWR reported. Levels at eight reservoirs with capacities exceeding 1 million acre-feet were below average storage for March 1, according to DWR. The levels ranged from 34% at Exchequer Reservoir in Central California to 83% at Lake Shasta in the north. The only major reservoir with storage above its historical average was Folsom Lake (111%), east of Sacramento. Meanwhile, the statewide conservation rate [...]
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