Today marks the final day of California’s rainy season.
December, January and February are typically the wettest months in the Golden State, with 75 percent of the state’s annual precipitation falling between November and March.
Now we’re about to enter our dry season, and the drought is nowhere near over. Gov. Gavin Newsom this week, in an attempt to curb water usage, proposed banning businesses from watering their lawns. More than 93 percent of California is considered to be in severe or extreme drought.
“We are definitely very much at the tail end of our wet season in California,” Jeanine Jones, drought manager with the California Department of Water Resources, told me. “We are not expecting any significant amount of additional precipitation — certainly not something that would make any difference for the drought.”
Jones added: “In other words, most of what we’re going to get, we have gotten.”
So where does that leave us?
All of California’s major reservoirs are currently at below-average levels. The state’s snowpack on Wednesday was a dismal 39 percent of what it typically is this time of year, according to state data. Newsom hasn’t yet announced mandatory water cuts for Californians but faces increasing pressure to do so.
The water year in California runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 and is defined that way so that the winter rainy season falls within a single water year.
Between October and December — the start of this water year — California received more rainfall than it had over the previous 12 months. Atmospheric rivers shattered records and replenished reservoirs.
But then we entered 2022. January and February represented the driest two-month start to a year on record in California, according to state officials. March is unlikely to be much better, even after this week’s storms.
The whiplash isn’t unusual in the Golden State; we have more climate variability than any other state in the nation, Jones said. And the weather has recently become even more unpredictable because of the effects of climate change.
Still, the heavy rains from the end of 2021 were not enough to overcome the past three exceptionally dry months.
At the end of December, the state had received 150 percent of the precipitation it typically has at that point in the water year. That figure has since dropped to below average — to roughly 70 percent.
Unfortunately, with March coming to a close and no storms on the horizon, we can say with near certainty that California’s drought in 2022 will keep getting worse.
For more:
The rest of the news
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Rent relief: Today is the deadline to apply for financial assistance for unpaid rent and utilities during the pandemic, KTLA reports.
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Gender in food service: Many restaurants are no longer greeting guests as “sir” or “ma’am” but are instead opting for gender-neutral language.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
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L.A. Mayor: Eric Garcetti’s confirmation to be U.S. ambassador to India is increasingly in doubt because of harassment allegations against a top adviser, Politico reports.
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Gun bill: A California bill requiring parents to tell school officials if they keep guns in the house failed to move ahead in the Legislature, The Associated Press reports.
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Illegal guns: State law enforcement seized nearly 1,500 illegal weapons in 2021, The Associated Press reports.
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
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Elephant welfare: Fresno Chaffee Zoo is considered one of the worst zoos for elephants by an international animal protection group, The Fresno Bee reports.
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Kristin Smart murder trial: A judge on Wednesday ordered that the trial in the 1996 killing of college student Kristin Smart be moved out of San Luis Obispo County, The Associated Press reports.
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
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Predatory sales safeguard: Enlisted members of the military would get an automatic 30-day cooling-off period in California when they buy or lease vehicles under a new proposal, The Associated Press reports.
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Newt crossing: Volunteers are working to protect newts that are crossing the Petaluma hills streets by the thousands, The Guardian reports.
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School settlement: A San Jose school district has been ordered by a jury to pay $102.5 million to two former students who were sexually abused by a teacher, The Associated Press reports.
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Historic homes purchased: A single buyer purchased 15 homes that were built on the same block in the 1920s for $10 million, The Associated Press reports.
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Hospital under review: San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital may lose critical funding after two patients overdosed last year, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
What you get
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And before you go, some good news
At least a thousand years ago, the Cahuilla Indians regularly walked a long, winding trail in the mountains above the Coachella Valley.
The path, through a landscape of remote peaks and natural springs, was used to visit relatives from other Native villages and to attend ceremonies. When important messages need to be relayed, runners would jog sections of the 30-mile trail in just hours.
But until recently, many Cahuilla had not stepped foot on the ancestral route in more than a century.
This month, tribal members representing Agua Caliente, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and the Santa Rosa Band of Cahuilla Indians hiked and camped for three days along the ancient trail, The Desert Sun reports.
“When I walk this trail, I walk it for my family,” said Mario Alejandre, a member of the Santa Rosa tribe and the Sawish-pakiktem clan. “We walk this trail because our ancestors walked it before us. This was sanctuary. This was heaven.”
Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya
P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Shalom : Hebrew :: ___ : Hawaiian (5 letters).
Briana Scalia and Mariel Wamsley contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com.