Friday August 4, 2023
LADWP —
On April 1, 2023, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) announced a record snowpack of 296% of normal for the Eastern Sierra making 2023 one of – if not the largest – snowpack year on record in California, eclipsing other big water years like 1952, 1983, 2017, and surpassing the Department’s 1969 record that measured at an estimated 270% of normal.
In wet years, there is more than four times as much water along the LA Aqueduct than in dry years. This year’s record snowmelt translates into managing 1 million acre-feet of water along the LA Aqueduct which is equivalent to filling about 493,617 Olympic-sized pools with water.
The peak of the runoff season—the period in which temperatures rise and the snow melts–usually lasts from May to June. This year’s impressive snowpack and the volume of water that it translates into pushed the season to August and possibly into early September.