California's drought woes may be over, but, we may have another problem on our hands - this time, it's the possibility of having too much water.
Doug Carlson with the California Department of Water Resources says it's the water content of the snow and not the depth that matters. During the late spring thaws, water from the melting snow will rush downhill into California's aging canal and reservoir system.
All that water needs to go somewhere, and many officials believe it could lead to flooding along the Merced and Truckee rivers in Northern California.
Thanks to the warmer temperatures, the Merced River is already threatening to overflow its banks. The river's flood stage is 10 feet, which it's already beginning to flirt with. Officials say they believe it'll begin to exceed that height beginning on Wednesday, and peaking through Friday. And while inconvenient, the thaw will not create massive flooding in the Yosemite Valley.
The final snowpack survey of the season concluded yesterday by the Department of Water Resources, and they say the 30-foot drifts found in some places along the Sierra Nevada range holds far more water than compared to previous years.
The department's latest measurement found the snowpack to be at 190% of average. That's the best since 1998.
The Sierra Nevada snowpack holds about 30% of the state's water supply.