The first of three, back-to-back storms hit California over the weekend, and the state's snowpack is expected to improve as two more storms will hit the state this week.
The average snowpack in California has skyrocketed since early January. At the start of the year, snowpack levels were much lower than expected. A series of atmospheric rivers have since brought torrential rain and heavy snowfall to the state, and the snowpack is now near 100 percent of its average—good news after the state battled years of drought that severely depleted its reservoirs.
Atmospheric rivers are defined as a "long, narrow region in the atmosphere—like rivers in the sky—that transport most of the water vapor outside of the tropics," according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The second in the series of storms is expected to hit by Wednesday, bringing snow and rain across the northern half of California and into nearby states like Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
"The spring storm train continues for California. Another 1-2 storms over the next week will drop several more feet of snow across the Sierra, with the potential for a major storm to impact SoCal next weekend," weather expert and storm chaser Colin McCarthy posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.
"Preliminary forecasts call for up to 2-3 inches of rain across much of SoCal, with local amounts of 5+ inches possible in the mountains. Significant mountain snowfall at resort levels is also possible."
According to the California Department of Water Resources, the state's snowpack jumped by 5 percent over the weekend for the northern Sierra Nevada mountains. Snowpack in the northern mountains is now at 115 percent of normal.
Snowpack is at 99 percent of normal for the central Sierra Nevada mountains and 91 percent of normal for the southern mountains. Snowpack is at 102 percent of normal statewide.
Newsweek reached out to the California Department of Water Resources via email for comment.
"California will likely then see a brief break from the wet weather before another unsettled pattern could return around the first weekend of April," McCarthy said. "This next round of storms will push California's snowpack towards 110% of normal of the peak April 1 average. This has been one of the most remarkable snowpack recoveries we have seen in modern history in California. The statewide snowpack was a mere 28% of normal on January 1 and 53% of normal on February 1, before this backloaded winter kicked into gear!"
The improved snowpack is good news for the state, considering that low snowpack could signal the return of water struggles when hot, dry weather arrives as the state relies on snowmelt to supplement a third of its water supply. Many of the state's reservoirs are in a much-improved condition when compared to 2022 water levels, and their levels are expected to rise again as the snow begins to melt in the spring.
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Anna Skinner is a Newsweek senior reporter based in Indianapolis. Her focus is reporting on the climate, environment and weather ... Read more
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