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Water delivery systems around the state, like the Zone 7 Water Agency, will get 30% of their requested allocations thanks to a wet December and healthy statewide reservoir levels, the California Department of Water Resources announced last week.
That’s a 20 percentage point increase from this year’s first monthly allocation announcement that was made in December.
DWR officials who manage the State Water Project say the higher delivery volume is possible because December storms helped reservoirs get to 125% of average statewide.
Still, January precipitation levels have underperformed, the state’s snowpack level is below average for this time of year, and DWR, as it typically does, is planning for dry conditions to persist.
“The assumption of dry conditions is increasingly important given the shrinking and warming of California’s traditional precipitation season,” DWR said in a news release Friday.
April marks the end of California’s rainy season and additional storms in February and March are needed to boost the snowpack.
January snowpack down
Dry January wasn’t just a sober month for people looking to start the year out on a healthy note, it also pretty accurately describes California’s precipitation levels so far in 2026.
DWR on Friday conducted the second snow survey of the rainy season at dozens of locations in the Sierra Nevada and found that the snowpack is 59% of average for this date.
Also, the measurements show the statewide snowpack’s snow water equivalent is 9.7 inches, or 59% of average for this date, compared to 67% on this date last year.
“A dry January, which is historically the wettest month of the year in California, has now eroded the gains made at the start of the year and forecasts currently show no major precipitation in the next two weeks,” DWR officials said in a news release Friday.
Three weeks ago, the snowpack was 89% of average after a series of atmospheric rivers moved across the state following a dry start to 2026.
“After the storms at the start of the year gave way to warm, dry conditions, those early gains we saw have flatlined or slightly eroded,” said Andy Reising, manager of DWR’s Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Unit. “While there is still time for February and March to deliver additional snow, the farther into the season we get with below average conditions, the harder it will be to catch up.”
Despite the dry spell, the state’s major reservoirs are currently at 126% of average due largely to three consecutive years of above-average snowpack conditions.
On average, the Sierra snowpack supplies about 30% of California’s water needs.
The next snow survey is tentatively scheduled for March 2. For California’s current hydrological conditions, people can visit https://cww.water.ca.gov.
– Kiley Russell, Bay City News Service
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