[4] Thanks to a strong El Niño that brought near average
precipitation to the northern California, the statewide April 1 snowpack measurement in 2016
showed state water resources at 87 percent of the long - term average; however, the snowpack was not sufficient to undo water
deficits caused by years of drought.
Our analyses
show that California has historically been more likely to experience drought if
precipitation deficits co-occur with warm conditions and that such confluences have increased in recent decades, leading to increases in the fraction of low -
precipitation years that yield drought.