California still deep in drought despite atmospheric river

By JOHN ANTCZAK
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The deluge California received from a powerful atmospheric river made streams and waterfalls come alive while coating mountains with snow, but as the storm heads east it leaves the Golden State still deep in drought. The long plume of moisture pulled in from the Pacific capped a series of storms that abruptly switched the state’s immediate emergency concerns from wildfires to flooding. But the long-term problem of drought linked to climate change was not washed away. State climatologist Michael Anderson says one storm this early does not predict the rest of the winter storm season, and a period of dry conditions is expected to return to California.