The Department of Water Resources has conducted the fifth and final snow survey of 2019 at Phillips Station, near Lake Tahoe. The manual survey recorded 47 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 27.5 inches, which is 188 percent of average for this location. Statewide, California’s snowpack sits at 31 inches of snow water equivalent, which is 144 percent of average for this time of year. Snow water equivalent is the depth of water that theoretically would result if the entire snowpack melted instantaneously. Thursday’s readings will help hydrologists forecast Spring and Summer snowmelt runoff into rivers and reservoirs. The melting snow supplies approximately one-third of the water used by Californians.