The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service held its snowpack survey in the Mt. Rose Ski Area on Thursday.
After a crazy winter last year, this year's snowpack is leaving more to be desired.
The current snowpack for Mt. Rose is 67 inches deep and contains around 16 inches of water.
However, that's only 60 percent of today's median and only 44 percent of what they would like to see in April.
For context, on this day last year, Mt. Rose was sitting at 178 percent.
With our recent storms, the snowpack has seen some changes.
Mt. Rose increased by nine percent since the beginning of the month.
The NRCS says we could use some more storms like the one we just had.
"Those atmospheric river storms are what we need in this area to develop a really robust snowpack," said Jeff Anderson, Hydrologist for the NRCS. "We've had one this year, we probably need four more to have a really close to normal snowpack for April."
Despite the disappointing start to this winter in terms of snow, last year's snowfall was so significant that Anderson said it's not really needed.
"We don't really need a huge snowpack this year," he states. "We would like to see one, but it's not like we just had three years of a drought. We just had one of the biggest snowpacks we've ever seen in the Sierra."
While the snow can provide hassle for traveling, it has plenty of benefits.
"We depend on this winter snowpack to get us through the long dry summers," he said.
Chad Blanchard, the US District Court Water Master for the Truckee and Carson rivers says that we are still reaping the benefits from last winter, but he would like to see the reservoirs filled.
"Not any areas concern right now, but we always want more," he said. "I like to fill them every year if we can. That gives us three years typically. If we fill Lake Tahoe, we can get through three years of dry before we run out."
Blanchard says Lake Tahoe levels are good at the moment, but quite full.
He says the Prosser and Boca Reservoirs are low right now, but that's normal this time of year.
Blanchard says that the Truckee River still has plenty of storage from Tahoe, but the upper Carson River relies more on year-to-year snowpack.
So, they'll have to wait and see how that plays out.
Blanchard says he would love for more snow to hit as we get near the end of winter.
He actually prefers it that way.
"You lose a lot of that snow during the season if it falls early, and you don't get anything later."
The next survey is planned for March 4, unless there's intense weather conditions.
We'll be sure to give you updates when that survey comes out.
