Despite this week’s rain and snow, water experts say the state is still below average in terms of snowpack, which leads to spring run-off. From Phoenix, KJZZ’s Mark Brodie reports.
MARK BRODIE: The mountains got several inches of snow, but Dino DeSimone says it wasn’t the heavy, wet kind, which leads to more water. He’s the Water Supply Specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Phoenix – it’s part of the U.S. Agriculture Department. DeSimone says every little bit helps, but calls this week’s storm a drop in the bucket.
DINO DeSIMONE: We look at a succession of good, wet storms to make it a really good winter. So, what we’ve had so far this winter is, we’ve had that one big storm, which helped tremendously on the snowpack. But, we need many more of those in succession to get it up to at least normal or above normal conditions.
BRODIE: DeSimone says his agency’s latest report shows Arizona’s snowpack is a little below normal. But, more importantly, he says, run-off going into rivers is quite a bit below normal, except on the Verde River system.