Monday February 2, 2026
The Modesto Bee —
The whiplash winter of 2026 has put the snowpack well below average in watersheds for Modesto and nearby areas.
Two caveats: The main storm season still has two months to go and reservoir storage is above average thanks to recent wet years.
The snowpack was 59% of average in the central Sierra Nevada as of Friday, the California Department of Water Resources said. It supplies farms and cities via the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced and San Joaquin rivers.