National drought experts say 99.7 percent of California remains in moderate drought or worse despite recent heavy rains.
The U.S. Drought Monitor update out Thursday left California's drought status unchanged. That means 55 percent of the state is still considered in the most extreme category of drought.
This map of the western United States shows areas of severe and extreme drought in red and dark red colors.
Climatologist Brian Fuchs at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Nebraska said the cutoff for the drought update means not all this week's rain was considered.
But Fuchs also said California would need to see a consistent pattern of storms to really move the state out of its three-year drought. Besides rain and snow, drought monitors also consider the water levels in reservoirs, rivers and streams, soil moisture, and other factors.
