Water year 2026
How this year sits on the record
Daily values, not the live gauges. Flow is USGS daily mean discharge at Tahoe City and Reno. Snow is the six story SNOTEL pillows, averaged as percent of median SWE for that date — the same framing as the snow chapter, stretched across a water year (October–September).
River flow
Snowpack
Notable years
Water year 2017 · January 2017 flood
Warm Sierra storms ran snow levels above 8,000 feet. The Truckee rose above flood stage at Reno, Truckee, and Vista; downtown bridges closed and hundreds of homes evacuated.
Water year 2019 · Wet 2019 spring
A solid Sierra snowpack kept spring and early-summer flow above the dry years that followed — a reminder that “normal” in this basin is a wide band, not a single line.
Water year 2021 · 2021 drought summer
Water years 2020–2022 were among California’s driest three-year stretches on record. Late-summer Truckee flow sat in the low end of the band on this chart.
Water year 2022 · Third dry year
Another meager snow year left little melt pulse. These markers are dates, not a claim that the gauge “caused” the drought — only that the river sat in a historically low groove.
Water year 2023 · 2023 melt pulse
After the big snow year, spring runoff ran high. This is the river catching up with the pillows — not a repeat of the January 2017 rain-on-snow flood.
Water year 2017 · Heavy 2017 snow, then rain
A large Sierra pack met warm January storms. The flood story is on the river chart; here the April 1 mark is the snow that fed it.
Water year 2021 · 2021 thin pack
April 1 statewide Sierra readings sat far below average in the drought years. These pillows often read near empty well before summer.
Water year 2022 · 2022 still dry
The third lean water year in a row. Percent-of-median on this chart is the same framing as the story’s snow chapter, stretched across the year.
Water year 2023 · 2023 Sierra bounty
Statewide electronic sensors read 61.1 inches SWE, 237% of average for the date — among the largest packs in the modern record. Central Sierra was about 237% of its April 1 average.