Snow-covered mountains peak through the clouds.

Why snowpack is so critical to life in the West

Millions of people in the U.S. rely on the melting of snow for drinking water, agriculture, and more. But even amid near-record snows in California, snowpack levels are steadily declining.

Snowfall rests on trees in Yosemite National Park after the last of a series of storms to hit California in January 2023. California has seen uncharacteristically high snowfall, bringing the snowpack to near record levels—bringing hope of relief from the state's long drought.
Photograph by Mario Tama, Getty Images

As California digs itself out from staggering accumulations of snowfall, there has been a pressing question in the minds of many: Could the near-record levels of snow be enough to fill the state’s reservoirs and break the drought that has long strangled the region?

That depends on something called snowpack, which is essential to refilling the state’s reservoirs. And, indeed, snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains is creeping toward record levels, Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources, said in a statement. But, she added, “it will also take more than one good year to begin recovery.”

(The drought in the western U.S. could last until 2030. Here's why.)

So what exactly is snowpack,

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