News Media #Fail: Storms DID Ease California's Historic Drought. But Erasing it Could Take Years

Two views of California captured by NASA's Terra satellite use false color to differentiate between clouds (whitish) and snow (orange-red). The first image was acquired on Nov. 25, 2014, before two storms hit California. The second is from Dec. 13th, after the second storm. (Images: NASA. Animation: Tom Yulsman) If you've been following news reports about California's epic drought in the aftermath of the recent storms there, it would be understandable if you've found yourself perplexed. "Finally, Some Good News In The California Drought" read the headline in Huffington Post. "Flood-Causing Deluge Amounts to Just Drops in California Drought" proclaimed the New York Times' glass-almost-empty headline: Refilling the glass a bit, the San Jose Mercury News stuck to reporting facts: "Winter storms finally starting to boost storage levels in key reservoirs". Meanwhile, Wired, like the Times, spun the story gloomily : "Think California’s Huge Storm Will End the Drought? Think Again" As you probably know (assuming you haven't been in hibernation), California has been on the receiving end of a veritable gusher of atmospheric moisture originating in the tropical Pacific. The first blast from this so-called "Pineapple Express" firehose came on December 2. The second — and more powerful — round of storminess hosed California starting overnight on Dec. 10th and continuing through the 11th. It dumped an extraordinary amount of moisture. In its story, the Times quoted Jon Gottschalck of the Climate Prediction Center as saying, "Most of the precipitation was rain...It wasn’t really adding to the snowpack, which is really what they need...Certainly this is good. But it’s going to be just a minor dent in the drought.” But as Paul Rogers reported in his excellent Mercury News story, the state's two largest reservoirs, Shasta Lake near Redding, and Lake Oroville in Butte County, were projected to receive 510,000 acre-feet of water in storm runoff by Tuesday.