Experts say this month has been a Miracle March. Snowpack in the Sierra was just 60% of average coming into the month, but with triple the amount of precipitation than a normal March, the outlook is much better.
"We're getting close to average, put it that way," Chad Blanchard, U.S. District Court Water Master said. "We're definitely closer. Enough of an increase that we would call this a Miracle March."
Tahoe City gets about four inches of precipitation during a typical March. There's been 12.32 inches of precipitation this month to make it the fourth wettest March on record, dating back to 1910. Lake Tahoe's level is about 9.5 inches higher than it was a few weeks ago. The lake is about six inches from its legal limit, with plenty more water to flow in once the snow starts melting.
"Now we have a significant amount of water coming that we don't have room for, so we're having to pass that inflow now and control the level and fill it later in the year," Blanchard said.
Boca Reservoir had its wettest March on record. The reservoir cannot begin storing water yet because of flood management, so it is even better that most of the precipitation fell as snow.
"Two weeks ago, it did not look like we had enough runoff coming to fill any of the reservoirs," Blanchard said. "Now, just two weeks later after these storms, it looks like we're going to fill everything."
Flood restrictions will relax April 10, allowing the reservoirs to begin storing water. That is why having a large snowpack and a later spring run-off can help.
"We'll also see a lot of the impact later in the year when the snow melts because the majority of it fell as snow and we had a huge amount of snow up-top," Blanchard said.
Blanchard says the timing of the storms was perfect, getting the soil wet before the snowmelt begins.
"We couldn't ask for anything any better as far as getting set up," Blanchard said. "Not only getting a bunch of storage into the lake, getting a bunch of snow but priming the system to have an efficient runoff."
