Sierra snowpack at 99% of normal with more powder on the way

The sun beaks through the clouds over the snow covered Sierra Nevada near Echo Summit, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. The California Department of Water Resources held it's second manual snow survey of the season, Tuesday, which showed the snowpack at 130 percent of normal at the Phillips Station near Echo Summit. less The sun beaks through the clouds over the snow covered Sierra Nevada near Echo Summit, Calif., Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016. The California Department of Water Resources held it's second manual snow survey of the ... more Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, Associated Press Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Sierra snowpack at 99% of normal with more powder on the way 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The weather, up to its usual surprises, brought summer sunshine to the Bay Area this week in the dead of winter at the same time that Sierra snowpack figures for Northern California were measured and found to be practically normal.

The snowpack in the northern reaches of the Sierra, which stretches from near the Oregon border to Lake Tahoe, was 99 percent of normal for mid-February, the California Department of Water Resources said. Statewide, the snowpack was 91 percent of normal.

The Sierra was forecast to get another dumping of snow this week.

The National Weather Service was predicting up to 2 feet of new snow in higher elevations and wind gusts up to 60 mph on Wednesday and Thursday.

“It’s a lot better than it was last year,” said Ted Thomas, spokesman for the Department of Water Resources. “We started out very good this winter and, even though we’ve had a dry period, that’s supposed to change.”

Last year, the snowpack in mid-February was meager. The statewide figure was 23 percent of normal, and in Northern California, it was even worse — only 22 percent of normal.

But state water officials, busy sticking their giant measuring poles into the snow at 92 sites throughout the state, are encouraged.

Even so, they’re not about to say — in mid-February — anything conclusive about the overall picture. And they certainly will not say the drought is over, partly over, possibly over or on its way to being over, even though the forecast for Wednesday calls for umbrellas instead of tank tops.

“We need more rain,” Thomas said, a phrase that California water mavens have been mouthing since 2010. “No one knows what the rest of the winter will bring.”

Other reservoirs in Northern California were bouncing back from their tongue-hanging-out levels of past years. Folsom Lake was actually 116 percent of normal, and Shasta Lake was a respectable 80 percent of normal.

As for the drought, Thomas said it was “very, very unlikely that we will completely pull out of it” by summer.

“It’s possible we will put a deep dent in the drought,” he said. “It’s also possible the drought will continue for a fifth straight year.”

In the Bay Area, rain was expected Wednesday, giving way to a 50 percent chance of showers Thursday.

By the weekend, sunny skies, and with them more drought anxiety, should return to the Bay Area.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF