Drier-than-normal March weather in many areas of the West capped an extremely disappointing winter wet season, leaving many rural and urban communities facing significant impacts-including low reservoir levels, reductions in water allocations, depleted soil moisture, and poor growing conditions for pastures and rain-fed crops-from a third consecutive year of drought. Notably, the water equivalency of the Sierra Nevada snowpack-hovering near 16 inches (just under two-thirds of the March 1 average) as the month began-shriveled to around 11 inches (about 40 of the end-of-season average) by March 31. An early-season Western heat wave, which peaked during the week of March 20-26, contributed to the loss of high-elevation snowpack due to melting and evaporation.
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