California Snowpack At Highest Point in Five Years

California's Sierra Nevada snowpack has reached its highest point in five years, confirmed state water officials recently.

The officials from the Department of Water Resources also said that major reservoirs' storage has increased significantly since January 1, according to the DWR release.

The snowpack statewide has reached a point that is 114 percent of normal for this period of the year. That number reflects the amount of water contained in the snow, as a report on the public radio station KQED noted.

There are varying levels of snowpack throughout the range. however, In a manual survey at a station south of Lake Tahoe, snowpack was 130 percent of the average for February. But out of the 100 testing locations along the Sierra range, the majority reported snowpack at below 90 percent.

While one-third of California's water supply is derived from snowpack, the drought is not over yet. Usually snowpack reaches its peak by April 1, and the state has not reached that point yet.

This week, the state's largest reservoir, Shasta, was about 52 percent full, KQED reported.

The drought will be over when the state makes up for its water deficit from the past four years, which state officials say will not likely happen for a year, KQED reported.