Currently a stubborn high-pressure ridge has staged above much of California, warding off low pressure and any chance of precipitation any time soon, Anna Schneider of the National Weather Service of Monterey said.
The current water supply weighs in at about 30 percent.
“We’re below normal,” Schneider said.
“Salinas is currently at 36 percent of its water level and San Francisco is at 65 percent.” Schneider said rain in the next week “is unlikely.” “It is unlikely we will reach our normal level this year,” she said.
“Any storm system coming our way is being pushed to the north by the high pressure.” Though reluctant, Schneider said there is a slight chance of some rain in about a week.
During a week of rainless skies and some record-high temperatures in Southern California, water officials also trekked into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday and manually measured the vital snowpack, which stood at less than a third of normal for the date.
Gov.
Jerry Brown lifted California’s drought state of emergency in April, but it took until September for the last bit of the state to emerge from the severe category of that drought — until now.
The years of disappointing winters and competition for remaining water supplies devastated native species ranging from Chinook salmon to pine forests, dried many household wells in the state’s middle, and compelled farmers to plunge other wells deep into the earth in search of irrigation water.
••• Register-Pajaronian reporter Tarmo Hannula contributed to this article.

Should the water stop, Cape Town — ironically first settled permanently by the Dutch in 1652 because it was considered climatically ideal for a supply station to underpin the Southeast Asian trade of their fleet — will become the world’s first major city in which the taps literally run dry.
Cape Town’s winter rainy season runs from May to August.
Experts initially calculated “Day Zero,” the date upon which there is insufficient water in the Western Cape Water Supply System to push through the pipes to the suburbs and sprawling informal settlements that encircle the city, to be around April 16.
Irrigation usage has declined over the past five years, although there have been criticisms of the national Department of Water and Sanitation for not cutting the agricultural allocation when the prospects of an extended drought became more apparent.
That makes the Western Cape the only provincial government not run by the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which has dominated national politics since winning the country’s first post-apartheid elections in 1994.
The dam supplies most of Cape Town’s potable water.
Western Cape premier Helen Zille, pictured here before casting her vote in South Africa’s 2014 election, says dirty hair should be seen as a status symbol in drought-hit Cape Town.
REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham Water and Sanitation has blamed the other two for not reacting vigorously enough when it became apparent, years ago, that densification — the city’s population has increased by 50 percent in the past decade — was going to strain water supplies.
They, in turn, have accused national government of dragging its feet on capital funding for infrastructure and maintenance, as well as withholding emergency disaster relief funds.
While it is true that all the parties have made blunders, city officials probably shouldn’t be blamed for lack of long-term planning.

One-third of California’s water supply in summer depends on how much snow falls in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the north of the state in winter.
When researchers from the state’s Department of Water Resources measured the snowpack at a research station near Lake Tahoe on Thursday, they found it be only 14% of the average for this time of year, Inside Climate News reports.
“We’re on that track” again, he said.
The state, which ended its official drought state of emergency less than a year ago, is not willing to go that far.
The state will likely wait several more months before it officially declares a drought, if it comes to that.
Swain says the snowpack will likely continue to decrease in coming weeks, as the forecast calls for higher temperatures.
In Southern California, regional drought has already returned.
Roughly 44% of the state is experiencing “moderate” drought conditions.
The most important snowpack reading is yet to come: April 1 typically marks the height of the snowpack in the Sierras, the period after a full winter’s worth of snowfall just before the spring melt begins.
At the April 1 reading during the 2014-2015 season, there was literally no snow on the ground.

According to OCS Mesonet, the drought extended to nearly 120 days.
The statewide average precipitation for the full month of January was 0.52 inches.
As of Jan. 23, 15 percent of the state was in the extreme to exceptional drought categories up 11 points from the previous year and 53 percent of the state was in the severe to exceptional drought categories, up 22 points from the previous year.
This was the most area rated in drought categories since April 2, 2013.
Topsoil and subsoil moisture conditions were rated mostly very short to short.
Winter wheat grazed reached 40 percent, down 10 points from the previous year.
Rye grazed reached 50 percent, down 10 points from the previous year.
Oats grazed reached 30 percent, down 30 points from the previous year and down 1 points from the normal.
Conditions of pasture and range were rated at 76 percent fair to poor.
Livestock condition was rated at 87 percent fair to good.

While it’s been a fairly lackluster year for snow for much of Minnesota until recently, much of the country is dealing with the same sort of issue; lack of moisture.
There have been very few large scale storms over the last couple of months which has led many areas of the country to dive into a drought.
Two thirds of the country are now in some sort of drought conditions, that’s double what it was just 4 months ago.
An eighth of the country is in at least a severe drought which is usually areas that have experienced less than half their normal precipitation over a several month period.
And while there has been some recent relief for parts of the east, the long term pattern through February does not support large scale heavy precipitation across the country so don’t expect this issue to go away anytime soon.
As for the Twin Cities and Minnesota, we are faring far better than most of the country with some abnormally dry conditions for the largely snowless areas of the western side of the state, but the Twin Cities is still in good shape thanks to our foot of snowfall about 10 days ago.
The metro is still officially behind average though, but we have hit the 30” mark for the season.
Season average is 54”.

Two systems will bring the chance of rain across the South through next weekend.
This rainfall is much-needed due to the growing drought conditions across the region.
Two systems will bring beneficial rain across much of the South through this weekend, where drought conditions have grown.
(MORE: Four Things To Know About Next Week’s Weather) The next low-pressure system will begin to approach the South Monday night.
This system will push a cold front eastward across the region into midweek.
Rain will extend across the Deep South and into the Southeast Tuesday into Wednesday.
At this time, the greatest concentration of rain from this weekend storm system appears to be from eastern Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley and the southeastern states.
Growing Drought Concerns This is much-needed rainfall since drought conditions have expanded across the region since the fall.
However, an area in central Alabama saw a worsening of drought conditions and is now in the extreme drought category.
Consequently, this upcoming wet weather pattern is good news for the South and Southeast and will hopefully alleviate some drought.

PHILLIPS STATION, Calif. (AP) — California’s brief escape from severe drought ended Thursday after scientists declared more than 40 percent of the state in moderate drought and water officials confirmed lower-than-normal snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, which hold nearly a quarter of the state’s population, were rated in severe drought.
During a week of rainless skies and some record-high temperatures in Southern California, water officials also trekked into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday and manually measured the vital snowpack, which stood at less than a third of normal for the date.
In Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, which are about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, the lack of rain and dry vegetation fueled a December wildfire that grew to be the largest recorded in state history.
“I know we need rain, but another mudslide would be awful,” said Santa Barbara restaurant hostess Cayla Stretz.
Survivors in her area are still digging out homes, many beaches and roads are closed by mud, and business is down in the beach town, Stretz said.
Last year’s rain has most of the state’s reservoirs higher than usual, a bright spot, said Doug Carlson, a state Department of Water Resources spokesman.
During the peak of the state’s dry spell, 99.9 percent of California was in some stage of drought and nearly half fell into the very highest category.
The years of disappointing winters and competition for remaining water supplies devastated native species ranging from Chinook salmon to pine forests, dried many household wells in the state’s middle, and compelled farmers to plunge other wells deep into the earth in search of irrigation water.
In California’s Central Valley, the nation’s richest agricultural producer, government officials had to install water systems during and after the five-year drought for small towns such as East Porterville, after household wells dried.

Warm, rain-free weather has been constant in the Desert Southwest for the past several weeks.
Despite being in the midst of what is normally the wettest period of the year, there is no change in sight.
With the exception of one soaking storm that set off devastating mudslides in Southern California, hardly any rain has fallen over the region in 2018.
“The dry and warm pattern will continue this week due to a storm track focused on Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies,” said AccuWeather Long-Range Meteorologist Max Vido.
“South of these storms, unseasonably mild air will accompany the dry weather, as temperatures frequently rise 10 to 20 degrees above normal.” In Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas, temperatures have been running 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit above normal since Jan. 1.
In Albuquerque, KRQE News 13 reported that the dry weather has resulted in residents using 3 percent more water than usual to maintain their landscaping.
Combined with the unseasonable heat, this drought will heighten the threat of brush and wildfires.
Residents will need to take care to avoid triggering any fires.
Residents should be careful to avoid common sources of such fires, including leaving outdoor agricultural burning or cooking unattended; improperly disposing of used cigarettes and parking hot cars over dry brush.
Ski resorts in the southern Rockies are also reporting much less snow than usual.

Tony Largier grows apples, plums and nectarines at Little Oaks Farm, near Villiersdorp, in South Africa’s Western Cape province.
It’s one of the newer varieties," says Largier.
He and other farmers in the area pull water from the nearby Elandskloof Dam — part of a network of dams that farmers, villages and the City of Cape Town share.
"If you get your 100 percent quota, that would be what they reckon you need to grow a hectare of fruit."
This year, Largier only got a 17 percent allocation, because the Elandskloof Dam is only one-third full.
But here on the dam, there’s no water to be seen.
Analysts estimate between 30,000 and 70,000 seasonal workers could lose their jobs this year.
But Kevin Winter, of the Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town, says curtailing farmers won’t prevent Day Zero.
But anything that allows us to push Day Zero out a little bit further is one management tool," Winter says.
Back at Little Oaks Farm, Largier says he can use water from the dam until next month.

PHILLIPS STATION, Calif. — California’s brief escape from severe drought has ended after scientists declared more than 40 percent of the state in moderate drought and water officials confirmed lower-than-normal snowpack in the Sierra Nevada.
Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, which hold nearly a quarter of the state’s population, were rated in severe drought.
During a week of rainless skies and some record-high temperatures in Southern California, water officials also trekked into the Sierra Nevada on Thursday and manually measured the vital snowpack, which stood at less than a third of normal for the date.
“It’s not nearly where we’d like to be,” Frank Gehrke, a state official, said of the snow, which supplies water to millions of Californians in a good, wet year.
‘We need rain’ In Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, which are about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, the lack of rain and dry vegetation fueled a December wildfire that grew to be the largest recorded in state history.
“I know we need rain, but another mudslide would be awful,” said Santa Barbara restaurant hostess Cayla Stretz.
Survivors in her area are still digging out homes, many beaches and roads are closed by mud, and business is down in the beach town, Stretz said.
During the peak of the state’s dry spell, 99.9 percent of California was in some stage of drought and nearly half fell into the very highest category.
Cutbacks at the peak of the five-year state drought mandated 25 percent conservation by cities and towns.
In California’s Central Valley, the nation’s richest agricultural producer, government officials had to install water systems during and after the five-year drought for small towns such as East Porterville, after household wells dried.