The governor of California has ordered unprecedented and mandatory water restrictions in the state as officials conducted a regular measurement of the Sierra Nevada snowpack and found "no snow whatsoever" amid the state's ongoing drought.

"This was the first time in 75 years of early-April measurements at the Phillips snow course that no snow was found there," the California Department of Water Resources said in a statement on Wednesday at the conclusion of a survey attended by the Governor Jerry Brown. It said readings from Thursday put the state's level of water content at just 5% of the historical average for the date.