Two weeks of rainy and snowy weather “has provided California a foothold for drought recovery but three straight winters of subnormal precipitation will take time, possibly several consecutive wet winters to recharge the reservoir levels and subsoil moisture back to normal,” says the weekly Drought Monitor. It says, “‘Cautious optimism but still a long way to go’ would be the very short summary of this week’s California drought picture.”
Drought conditions eased somewhat in the past week in California. Some 32 percent of the state is in exceptional drought, the most dire category, compared to 55 percent a week ago, said the Monitor. Overall, 97.4 percent of the state is covered by drought, compared to 99.7 percent last week.
The Los Angeles Times quoted NASA scientist Jay Famiglietti as saying the Golden State needs three seasons of above-normal rainfall to get back to a “manageable situation…We need 11 trillion just to get back to our normal, dry conditions.”