(Wines&Vines) - The much-anticipated El Niño winter has brought some precipitation to parched California and begun to replenish the vital Sierra Nevada snowpack. But according to experts including the National Weather Service in Sacramento, a single “normal year” will not redeem the state from the ravages of a four-year drought. 

Reservoirs have slowly begun refilling from historically low levels, and according to a Jan. 15 report on the water blog Maven’s Notebook, which monitors California water issues, “El Niño is not fizzling.”

Laurel Rogers, who handles communications for the U.S. Geological Survey California Water Science Center in San Diego, told Wines & Vines, “Water storage is key. It’s a big deal, in the reservoirs and mountain snowpack.” Rogers explained that snowpack data uses an April 1 deadline when estimating water equivalent because the last snow has typically fallen by April 1.

“It’s very important for planning. But if it all melts at once, we can’t capture it. We hope for a cool spring where it melts gradually.” Meanwhile, Rogers said, “We’re trying to work on the infrastructure and sustainability plans for the future. We’re trying to look at innovative ways to put new tools in the box.” 

Additionally, she said, “Neither the (U.S.) Bureau of Reclamation nor the (California) Department of Water Resources have announced their initial water allocations yet for this year, so the water operators of these agencies probably cannot tell you much about water availability or allocations at this point.” The Department of Water Resources’ Data Exchange Center, meanwhile, shows that reservoir conditions are still well below normal.

Dr. Claudia Faunt oversees the Water Science Center. She told Wines & Vines, “In general, farmers are going to use the best available, cheapest water. In the western part of the Central Valley, for a long time they pumped a lot of groundwater, causing subsidence (sinking) of the water table. Now, state and federal engineered canals and projects deliver more water.”