Michael L. Anderson Michael D. Dettinger 2015 <p>The San Francisco Bay and Sacramento&ndash;San Joaquin&nbsp;Delta (Delta) are the recipients of inflows from a&nbsp;watershed that spans much of California and that has&nbsp;ties to nearly the entire state. Historically, California&nbsp;has buffered its water supplies and flood risks both&nbsp;within&mdash;and beyond&mdash;the Delta&rsquo;s catchment by developing&nbsp;many reservoirs, large and small, high and&nbsp;low. Most of these reservoirs carry water from wet&nbsp;winter seasons&mdash;when water demands are low and&nbsp;flood risks are high&mdash;to dry, warm seasons (and years)&nbsp;when demands are high and little precipitation falls.&nbsp;Many reservoirs are also used to catch and delay&nbsp;(or spread in time) flood flows that otherwise might&nbsp;cause damage to communities and floodplains. This&nbsp;essay describes the status of surface-water and snowpack&nbsp;storage conditions in California in spring 2015,&nbsp;providing context for better understanding where the&nbsp;state&rsquo;s water stores stand as we enter summer 2015.</p> application/pdf 10.15447/sfews.2015v13iss2art1 en University of California at Davis; Delta Stewardship Council Storage in California’s reservoirs and snowpack in this time of drought article