Low Sierra snowpack

The results of a snow survey by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) do not bode well for the summer months in areas that depend on the snowpack for water.

“Manual and electronic readings record the snowpack’s water content at about 20 percent of average for this time of year,” according to a DWR statement.

Department officials said the survey “found more bare ground than snow” in the Sierra Nevada.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has formed a Drought Task Force to plan for the expected water shortages.

“DWR and other agencies will streamline transfers of water from areas of relative abundance to areas of critical need, monitor water-supply impacts in small rural communities whose groundwater sources are stressed by prolonged dry conditions, and take other steps to mitigate the effects of dry weather,” the DWR statement reads.