Updated: January 16 California Reservoir Levels

With heavy rain Sunday night into Monday morning, California saw flooding across multiple areas statewide.  Here is a look at the water levels at our California reservoirs as of January 16 at 10:00 am.

The timing between storms is important for river levels to come down between rises, but DWR officials warn that more areas will become susceptible to flooding with each successive storm.

As of January 12, DWR said its managing the State Water Project (SWP) this week to capture as much water from these storm systems as possible while meeting environmental requirements. The State Water Project’s largest reservoir, Lake Oroville, is now at 1.3 million acre-feet and climbing, but over 2 million more acre-feet of water is still needed to fill the lake due to the extreme drought conditions over the last few years.

Full Graphic — click here

Contra Costa County Hit With Flooding Monday Morning

• Several Contra Costa Roads Closed Due to Flooding
• Portion of Byron Highway Road Closed Due to Flooding

Snow Survey

Photo by California Department of Water Resources

DWR conducted its first Phillips Station snow survey on Jan. 3. The manual survey recorded 55.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 17.5 inches, which is 177 percent of average for this location. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained in the snowpack and is a key component of DWR’s water supply forecast. Statewide the snowpack is 174 percent of average for this date.

“Big snow totals are always welcome, but we still have a long way to go before the critical April 1 total,” said Sean de Guzman, DWR’s snow surveys and water supply forecasting unit manager. “It’s always great to be above average this early in the season, but we must be resilient and remember what happened last year. If January through March of 2023 turn out to be similar to last year, we would still end the water year in severe drought with only half of an average year’s snowpack.”

On average, the Sierra snowpack supplies about 30 percent of California’s water needs and is an important factor in determining how DWR manages the state’s water resources. Its natural ability to store water is why the Sierra snowpack is often referred to as California’s “frozen reservoir.” A below-average snowpack impacts water users across the state, putting further stress on the environment and critical groundwater supplies. — Full Story