SeeCalifornia.com

When the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) snow surveyors conducted winter’s first snow survey at Phillips Station near Echo Summit this January 2014, they found more bare ground than snow. Manual and electronic readings recorded the snowpack  statewide water content at about 20% of average for this time of year.

If you’re looking for fresh powder to lay some tracks on, where ya’ gonna’ go, Californians? You can get the manmade stuff at ski resorts throughout the state, but that’s hardly enough to satisfy most ski lovers’ desires.   So?

On Friday Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency and asked the people to cut their water use by 20%.  That’s the amount of rain and snow we’ve gotten compared to a normal season–about 20% in most place.  Brown has united DWR and other agencies in an Interagency Drought Task Force, which will streamline transfers of water from areas of relative abundance to areas of critical need, monitor water supply impacts in small rural communities whose groundwater sources are stressed by prolonged dry conditions, and take other steps to mitigate the effects of dry weather.

Some water amounts:  One of California’s wettest spots with an average annual rainfall of nearly 100 inches, Gasquet  Ranger Station in Del Norte County ended the year with only 43.46 inches; Sacramento 5.74 inches (18″ average);  and downtown Los Angeles 3.4 inches (14.74″ average). Here are some state averages of rain & snow.