Is the drought in California over?

So far, we have had average rainfall, not the above average that was forecast.
Because so many of the last years have been light, this one seems heavy, but it isn’t.
Keep in mind that California needs more than average rainfall every year to accommodate its needs.

The definition of “average” tells me that’s not a great long term plan.

No, El Niño Will Not Fix California’s Drought

Nope, we have more rain here today in the Sierra foot hills but we are a long ways from being over this drought.

The reservoirs are still low (below 40%). There have not been any “flood waters” to save in California.

It is snowing at Lake Tahoe right now, always a good sign for the snowpack, which is how California really stores its water into the summer.

The ground is so parched, that until last week’s third storm in five days, the local streams were not filling at all, the water was going into the ground.

@zenvelo I can see Donner summit from the front deck on a clear day and it is stunning with all the snow now from the last few months. Every little bit counts.

According to the reports I have heard, no.

No. We need solid rain for about a year to make that happen.

The drought isn’t over. I think now we’re trying to figure out which type of drought this will be. An article from the Mercury News outlines various drought possibilities as it discusses the situation. Someone told me that the past couple hundred years have been wetter than most of California’s history, so we’ve been developing our current living situation based on an anomaly. I’m not sure if climate scientists have as absolute a statement over California’s weather norms, though they know that years-long, decades-long, and centuries-long dry periods all occur with apparent regularity. Regardless, as the NY Times points out, in recent history we demand far more water from the state than we have ever demanded before, perhaps more than the state can ever give, and we’ll probably need to adjust our expectations.