article_snippet.sent: Frank Gehrke, left, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, points to a mark on the snow pack measuring pole that was the lowest previous snow pack level as  
article_snippet.sent: State water officials found no snow on the ground at the site for State water officials manual survey of the snowpack.
article_snippet.sent: The snowpack has been in decline all year, with electronic measurements in March showing the statewide snow water equivalent at 19 percent of the historical average for that date.
article_snippet.sent: There was no snow at the site of Wednesday's survey near Echo Summit, about 90 miles east of Sacramento. '
article_snippet.sent: It is such an unprecedented lack of snow, it is way, way below records,' said Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources.
article_snippet.sent: Officials say the snowpack is far below the historic lows of 1977 and 2014, when it was 25 percent of normal on April 1 - the time when the snowpack is generally at it peak.
highlights_snippet.sent: State water officials found no snow on the ground at the site for State water officials manual survey of the snowpack .
  