What a dry January means for California’s drought
In the final three months of 2021, hope arrived in California in the form of rain. Record-breaking downpours nourished the parched land. The state’s snowpack, a major source of water, reached a staggering 160 percent of its expected level. If the rains continued through the rest of the winter, experts advised, California’s severe drought could soon start to look very different. But alas. January, typically one of the state’s wettest months, has proved unusually dry.