ECHO SUMMIT, Calif. – The Latest on the Sierra Nevada snowpack that supplies water to California when it melts in the spring (all times local):
12:15 p.m.
New snowpack measurements have brought bad news for Californians hoping for an end to five years of drought.
State surveyors found Tuesday that a record-breaking warm, dry month of February ate away at what had been a well-above normal Sierra Nevada snowpack.
Chief surveyor Frank Gehrke says the latest measurements found snowpack at 105 percent of normal for this time of the year at Echo Summit. Statewide, the figure stood at just 83 percent of average.
That compares to 130 percent last month at Echo Summit.
The state is in its second year of mandatory water conservation owing to drought.
Mountain snowpack provides about one-third of overall water for California when it melts in the spring. Forecasters say a welcome series of storms could bring rain and snow back to the state this week.
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