A stretch of hot, dry weather resulted in no significant changes for California's drought conditions as state water officials continue to analyze the impact of storms that briefly interrupted a long dry spell.
The U.S. Drought Monitor report, issued weekly, tracks drought conditions across the country. Drought Monitor researchers use five categories to indicate drought intensity -- Abnormally Dry (D0), Moderate (D1), Severe (D2), Extreme (D3) and Exceptional (D4).
More than 95 percent of the state remains in the Severe to Exceptional drought categories, according to the Monitor. Three months ago, 87 percent of the state fell into those categories.
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The report comes a day after the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday announced that water deliveries to farms and drought-stricken communities will remain at zero until an analysis by water managers is complete. The officials are attempting to determine whether recent storms helped enough to warrant increases.
The analysis will likely take until the end of April
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State Water Project allocations have been cut to zero for the first time in the system's 54-year history. The federally run Central Valley Project has also canceled deliveries to most recipients.
California is in a drought emergency, and officials said recent rains haven't helped the state's outlook.
