[pct-l] Sierra snowpack is 40 percent of normal

[brick@fastpack.com (Brick Robbins)]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/fri/news/news_1n5snow.html

Sierra snowpack is 40 percent of normal

  By Audrey Cooper
  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  January 5, 2001

  SACRAMENTO -- The first winter measurement of the Sierra Nevada snowpack
  returned disappointing results yesterday: State water officials found 
snow levels at
  40 percent of normal.

  Monthly mountain snowpack measurements by the state Water Resources Board
  help forecast California's water outlook for the summer. More than 40 
percent of
  the state's drinking and irrigation water comes from the pack.

  A dry winter could mean a summer with little water for farmers, less 
power from
  hydroelectric plants and a high risk of forest fires.

  The measurements are slightly above those from this time last year. 
Snowfall in
  January and February helped raise the state to near-normal levels.
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