California’s water supply is looking a lot more robust after an atmospheric river blanketed the Northern Sierra Nevada with snow.

Last week’s storm deluged Mammoth Mountain with nearly 9 feet of powder and enveloped Kirkwood, Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley with about 7 feet of fresh snow.

But all that white stuff wasn't quite enough to push the state’s snowpack above average for this time of year. That’s due to more than a year of dry weather. During rainy season in 2020, the state saw just 39% average rainfall the last three months of the year.

Measurements from officials with the California Department of Water Resources show the snowpack near Lake Tahoe at about 93% of February’s historical average.

Sean de Guzman, chief of DWR's Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section, recorded a snow depth of 63 inches and a snow-water content of 17 inches at Phillips Station snow course, south of Lake Tahoe.

The statewide automated snow sensor network as of Wednesday morning reported the snowpack at 70% of average.

“The state has experienced a series of storms over the last couple of weeks that brought a significant amount of rain and snow,” de Guzman said. “However, these storms were not nearly enough to make up the deficit that we have accumulated over the last few months.”

A sustained La Niña, which is cold water on the surface of the Equatorial Pacific that affects weather across the globe, has stalled a ridge of high pressure over California and diverted storms that might normally have pelted the state over the Pacific Northwest instead.

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