The start of April means that California’s rainy season is coming to an end and things are looking pretty good this year, but there are some caveats. The snowpack across the Sierra Nevada and the Colorado River Basin – both critical stores of water – is hovering slightly above average, though it’s nowhere near what we saw last winter.

For comparison, in 2023, the State Water Project (SWP) was able to fulfill 100 percent of water requests made by municipalities across California. This year, the SWP announced a 30 percent allocation.

“Last year there was so much water we were looking for every place we could to store some water,” said John Yarborough, assistant deputy director for the SWP.

A slow start to the rainy season across the Sierra could lead to decreased runoff as the dry ground beneath the snowpack sucks up what it can when everything starts to melt.