As California heads into a fourth year of drought, the snowpack levels are at their lowest on record for the time of year.
After last year's dry winter and a parched, sweltering summer, reservoirs are depleted, streams are low, and snowpack levels stand at 41 percent of their historical average.
Snowpack levels many had hoped would replenish the reservoirs are at pathetic lows.
The season for recharging the reservoirs has ended early because of low snowpack levels, he said.
The storms were subtropical, so most of the moisture was rain and had little effect on snowpack levels in the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Parks staff play both a research and prevention role by monitoring snowpack levels and predicting avalanche probability, as well as working with the Canadian Forces to trigger controlled avalanches.
But after dry winters with low snowpack, lake levels drop and toad eggs can find themselves in as little as 10 cm of water.
The storms, which are likely to continue into Friday, have fattened the mountain snowpack to levels California hasn't seen for two years, said Steve Nemeth, water supply forecaster for the state Department of Water Resources.
"The lower level snowpack from 7,500 to 6,000 feet is already gone, but the mid-elevation snow from about 7,500 to 9,000 feet is still there".
The multiyear drought in the West has lowered the snowpack and water levels behind dams, reducing their power output.
