The Auto Channel
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
Official Website of the New Car Buyer

Snow Survey Reaches Winter's End with Added Features

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--March 24, 2004--The Department of Water Resources will be using a new procedure for reporting snowpack water content that it hopes will result in more comprehensive and meaningful coverage of statewide snowpack conditions.

In addition to drawing the media's attention to the single manual snow survey site near Lake Tahoe each month during the winter, reporters will be directed to statewide water content information posted on the Internet and provided with further information by the staff of the department's Office of Water Education.

Here's how this month's and future snow survey reporting will be carried out:

-- For reporters wanting to cover the manual survey, we will continue to send out a monthly advisory. The next survey will be conducted on March 30, starting at 11 a.m. The location is the Phillips Station survey site at Highway 50 and Sierra at Tahoe Road, about 90 miles east of Sacramento. Bring snowshoes or cross-country skis. Complete measurements should be available by noon. Please call the survey team numbers: (916) 798-1752 (cell) or (916) 916-574-2636 (office).

-- For those wanting statewide and regional conditions, DWR will post on the Internet on the first of each month the snow-water content measurements for the entire Sierra. (If the first falls on a weekend, information will be available on the following Monday.)

These measurements include readings from automated stations reported electronically to DWR and other agencies. April 1 is considered the statistical "end of winter," when nearly all snow has fallen.

To obtain the April 1 measurements -- arranged by regions of the Sierra -- see DWR's California Data Exchange Center at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgi-progs/iodir/DLYSWEQ.20040401

This report should be ready by mid-morning of April 1. If you have difficulty reaching this page, or need any other assistance, please call Jeff Cohen at (916) 653-0979 at the Office of Water Education.