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I I I I I I ! I ~ I I I I I I I I I I 303915 Precipitation - The only month this y~ar that had good precip- tat ion was October and unfortunately October, even at best, does not produce very much water. November, December, and January have all been dry over most of the State. One exception through December was the Smith River in the northwest corner of the State. In addition, some of the small coastal drainages to the south had about normal precipitation until the first of January. An area around Lake Tahoe had sufficient precipitation early in the year to be near normal at the first of January but was well below normal in snowpack since most of the precipitation fell as rain. Even those fortunate areas fell below normal during January. Pre- cipitation ranges from about a high of 80% of normal in the extreme northwest to as low as 10% in Southern California as shown on Figure 2, "Seasonal Precipitation, October 1, 1975 - January 31, 1976." Precipitation at Central Valley Stations ranges from about 30% of normal in the Southern San Joaquin Valley to about 45% in the Northern Sacramento Valley. Precip- tation in the Sierra Nevada is about 50% of normal at most locations. Reservoirs - The large reservoirs in the Sacramento Valley have about 95% of the amount of water in storage that is normal for this time of year and those in the San Joaquin Valley about 105% of normal. This is about equal to the 10 year average. Table 1 shows the amount of water in storage in the reservoirs and a comparison with other dry years. Snow Accumulation - The least favorable situation is the scarce snowpack. The State depends on the melting snowpack for water in many of the larger streams in the April through July period. Snow accumulation is only about 25% of normal for this date in the basins draining into the Sacramento Valley and about 13% of normal in the San Joaquin basins. The snow- pack for February 1, 1976 is shown in Table 2. Snow Surveyors, even at some of the very high altitude snow courses, found themselves carrying their skis and walking on dry ground during the late January Snow Survey. Soil Moisture - Storage of moisture in soil is less well known than other forms of water storage but is of great importance to dry farm agriculture and native vegetation. Grain planted on land fallowed last spring in areas of higher rainfall, such as Northern California, might attain normal yields if rain occurs soon. Grain planted on land that was not fallow last summer and therefore dependent only on the precipitation that has fallen will not be worth harvesting in many areas. Deep rooted native plants also have access to some moisture carried over from last spring. Shallow rooted range grasses, however, depleted the moisture within reach of their roots from last spring and have only the water from this winter's precipitation, which has been inadequate to maintain normal growth. -3-