"The much-welcomed storms that hit California this week and over the past month increased the Sierra Nevada snowpack, a critical source of water for cities and farms. But they didn't end the drought, experts say. They simply improved a disastrous situation to dismal.

On Tuesday, surveyors for the state Department of Water Resources reported the snowpack is 32 percent of average -- the lowest level on April 1 since 1988, when Sierra Nevada snows were at 29 percent of normal. That was the second year of California's last major drought, which lasted five years.

But Tuesday's total is significantly better than two months ago, when the snowpack was only 14 percent of normal, after 2013 became the driest year in California's recorded history."

Paul Rogers reports for the San Jose Mercury News April 1, 2014. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Meager Snowpack Bad News for Drought-Plagued Calif." (USA TODAY) [3]