January 2020 Snow Survey

The first manual snow survey of the 2020 season will take place at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada.

Phillips Station, Calif., is located just off Highway 50 near Sierra-at-Tahoe Road approximately 90 miles east of Sacramento.

The Phillips Station snow course is one of more than 260 snow courses across the Sierra Nevada that DWR manually or electronically measures each winter and early spring. Data collected from the monthly snow surveys help determine the amount of water that will melt and run off to state reservoirs during warmer months. The information is critical to the water managers who allocate California’s natural water resources to regions downstream.

Sean DeGuzman, Chief of DWR’s Snow Surveys and Water Supply Forecasting Section will conduct the snow survey and respond to questions from the media, along with Dr. Michael Anderson, DWR’s State Climatologist. DeGuzman, Anderson, and other DWR staff will be available for interviews immediately following the briefing.

 For those unable to attend, video and photos of the survey, along with staff comments, will be made available the afternoon of January 2.