Gov.
Jerry Brown recently declared California’s brutal five-year drought to be over.
Many weeks of powerful storm systems brought heavy rain to the coasts and valleys of California while burying the mountains in 30 or more feet of snow.
The way weather patterns usually work, when one region receives excessive moisture, another is deprived .
Much of the Southeast began slipping into drought in early fall and much of it remains dry, despite some intense downpours around Atlanta last week that scrambled air travel .
Virginia has been on the periphery of this dryness, falling into light to moderate drought through mid- to late fall, then bouncing in and out a bit through the winter.
Roanoke got 0.81 inch of rain early last week, then another third of an inch late in the week.
Getting about 0.8 inch a week would keep us level with our norm.
Central U.S. high pressure may prevent this from happening for several days.
It remains to be seen whether we lapse into a more severe drought that lasts through the summer.