SACRAMENTO — Sierra Nevada snow levels are far above normal as warm temperatures hit California and flood-wary residents wait for the spring runoff, but officials predicted Thursday that reservoirs would be able to handle the extra water.

The state Department of Water Resources said its last check of the 2005-2006 rainy season found a Sierra snowpack that averaged 180 percent of normal water content for this time of year.

Levels were higher than that average in the northern Sierra - 207 percent of normal - and lower in the central and southern parts of the mountain range - 169 percent and 175 percent, respectively.

Snowpack depth ranged from 5½ feet to about 8½ feet at four spots near Highway 50.

Department officials said they were coordinating efforts with federal agencies and local irrigation districts to ensure reservoirs could handle the runoff without increasing downstream flows that could lead to flooding.

Operators are confident the reservoirs will be able to handle the snow melt without increasing flows more than they already have been, said Arthur Hinojosa, head of the department’s hydrology branch.

Heavy snowfall in the mountains and rain in the lowlands have already triggered some flooding and raised concerns about the condition of Central Valley levees.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in February, a step administration officials said would speed up repairs to 24 flood-prone spots in the extensive levee system.

State legislators also have been trying to put together a package of public works bonds that almost certainly would include several billion dollars for levee repairs, and Schwarzenegger has criticized the federal government’s failure to provide money for levee upgrades.

But Frank Gehrke, head of the snow survey, said the snow melt shouldn’t exacerbate levee problems.

“I think the flows certainly are going to drop off from what we were experiencing earlier in the month,” he said. “The snow, once it starts to melt, doesn’t produce nearly the runoff that a big rainstorm does.

“If we get a big rainstorm sometime during May that would obviously change the whole equation.”