Record snowfall offers reprieve to dry California – but drought remains

Despite a promising start to the water year, there's a long way to go before the state overcomes deficits left by dry conditions

A series of major storms have doused the parched landscapes of the American west with rain and record-breaking amounts of snow over the past two weeks, offering a hopeful reprieve after a devastatingly dry year.

In California, which has been mired in drought, the snowpack has grown to 159% of what's considered normal for this time of year, and the state got to more than half of its 1 April average, with some areas receiving more than 122in of snow over the last seven days. It's not just in the mountains. Rainfall records have been broken across the state, and southern California is bracing for floods, flows, and more frigid temperatures through the end of the week.