By Scott Wilson New York Times
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The torrential rain that fell on much of California in recent days recharged rivers, filled storage tanks and prepared the ground for the next storm, providing what many climate experts say is an auspicious start to the winter.
But the rainfall, which set records in some northern cities, was not nearly enough to end the state’s deep drought, now affecting 37 million of California’s 40 million residents.
One reason is simple. The deficit of water from a drought now entering its third year is too great to be made up with just one storm, no matter how powerful it may have been. Compounding the problem, California’s warming climate is undermining its ability to dent its droughts in the long term, even when the rains do come.
The storm did leave several feet of snow in the high Sierra Nevadas. But warmer-than-usual weather meant that snow did not accumulate at lower altitudes where it once would have. The Sierra snowpack is the key to California’s water, filling rivers and reservoirs with a steady stream of cool water as it melts in the spring.
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