Improved California spring snowpack won't end drought

FRESNO, California (AP) — State drought surveyors will trudge through deep snow Wednesday to manually measure what could be close to a normal Sierra Nevada snowpack for this time of year.

A year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown stood on the same spot — then a dusty patch of ground with no snow — to announce that the dire drought required residents to cut back water use by 25 percent.

Surveyors expect to find much more snow this time thanks to the El Nino storms that have drenched Northern California.

But Doug Carlson of the state's Department of Water Resources says it won't end the record dry spell.

Still, state water board spokesman George Kostyrko said agency officials expect to soon re-open a discussion of the conservation order issued by Brown.