Despite the recent storm that pummeled the Sierra with snow and scattered rain in the valleys and along the coast, California remains unseasonably dry with 47 percent of the state experiencing at least "moderate drought" conditions, according to the federal government’s Drought Monitor.
The storm hailed by meteorologists as "the season’s biggest" gave the snowpack a little boost and ski slopes lots of fresh powder with many resorts reporting more than 7 feet of snow in the first week of March.
But seasonal totals remain well below normal and the new drought map released Thursday reveals no change in the unusual dry conditions that have mired the mountain range for several months.
Media: KCRA Null emphasized his point with the latest numbers from the Eight Station Index that measures the amount of precipitation (rainfall and water content in the snow) in the northern Sierra and is used to help determine the status of Northern California’s water supply.
The index stood at 19.92 inches before March 1 and the recent precipitation in the first week of March bumped it up to 24.06.
We only got more than 2 inches above normal.
What’s more, for the index to be at a normal reading for this time of year, the storm would have needed to boost the index up by 16 inches and Null says the amount of snow to reach that level would have been catastrophic.
State Climatologist Mike Anderson with the California Department of Water Resources says the map is mainly used "for rangeland ag support through the USDA and may not capture the nuance of different conditions present in California for different sectors."
The map from the week before the storm is nearly the same from the one after, with 91 percent of the state continuing to be abnormally dry in the latter map.
Most of Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, is abnormally dry.