California snowpack lowest in decade despite hope with December storms

First survey of season shows snow at 25% of historical average, with brown patches of vegetation across Sierra Nevada

In the first snow survey of the season, California came up short - just 25% of the historical average - despite a spate of strong storms that caused flooding and landslides along the coast in late December.

On Tuesday, officials measured a depth of just 7.5in at a monitoring station in the Sierra Nevada mountain range east of Sacramento, where brown patches of vegetation could be seen poking through the shallow snow. Statewide, the amount is the lowest logged for this time of year in the last decade.