The atmospheric river storms hitting California over the last two weeks are finally helping dry conditions across the state, but officials say it’s too early to know if the drought is over. The National Weather Service says these kinds of strong, sustained storms also happened in the winters of 2016-2017 and 2010-2011, both years that helped end droughts in California. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is off to the best season start on record at twice the normal rate, the state already has 85-percent of the average snowpack for the entire year, and reservoirs are approaching average numbers. But California officials are reminding people that last year’s January, February and March were the driest period on record, and more than 100-percent of average is needed for the season to help end the drought.
