Drought drags on: Storms didn't quench Calif.'s thirst

Almost 95% of the state of California remains in a drought, the same as last week.

The storms that walloped California last week slightly eased the state's epic drought, but the state is still drastically short of moisture, the U.S. Drought Monitor reports. "Short-term benefits from the storms were mostly offset by still-large, three-year precipitation deficits, low reservoir levels and a sub-par snowpack," according to this week's Drought Monitor, a federal website that tracks drought across the country. The monitor shows that 94.56% of the state of California remains in a drought, the same as last week. However, the area of "exceptional" drought -- the worst category, in dark red on the map -- dropped from 26.21% to 22.37%. The "blockbuster" storm last week and weekend did avert a record-breaking season for dryness in California, according to meteorologist Brad Rippey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, author of this week's monitor. The storm brought "drought-easing rainfall to coastal areas and beneficial snow in the Sierra Nevada," Rippey wrote. One spot in the central Sierra picked up 4 feet of snow from the storm, while reports of 2-3 of snow were common across much of the central and southern Sierra, according to the National Weather Service. "In addition, rain in California's agricultural regions temporarily eased irrigation requirements and aided drought-stressed rangeland and winter grains," he said. The storms accounted for more than 75% of the season-to-date precipitation in cities such as Burbank (which picked up 4.78 inches) and Los Angeles (4.52). On Feb. 28, Los Angeles — with 2.24 inches — experienced its wettest day since March 20, 2011. "However, spring and summer runoff prospects improved only slightly, as pre-storm snowpack values were near record lows and because drought-parched soils soaked up most of the available moisture," Rippey reported. "In addition, the storm moved too far south to provide optimal amounts of moisture in California's key watershed areas, with the heaviest precipitation occurring in coastal and southern California rather than the Sierra Nevada." While the worst of the drought is in California, much of the rest of the West and a large part of the Plains also are enduring some level of drought. Almost the entire USA east of the Mississippi River remains drought-free. Looking ahead for the next week or so, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) predicts that most of the western USA, including California, will experience warm, mostly dry weather. Long-term, the CPC also predicted Thursday a "50% chance" of a weak El Nino climate pattern developing later in the year. El Nino, a warming of tropical Pacific Ocean water, affects weather in the USA and around the world. Impacts in the U.S. sometimes include a calmer Atlantic hurricane season and additional precipitation for the West and South. However, an El Nino was predicted in 2012, yet never formed. Also, as noted by meteorologist Jan Null of Golden Gate Weather Services, El Ninos don't automatically deliver more precipitation to California: "Historical records for the past six decades for central California, including the Bay Area, show that during the 18 El Nino events, the rainfall has been above normal half the time and below normal the other half." Null wrote on his website.