The U.S. Drought Monitor on Tuesday listed western Nevada as “abnormally dry” despite early February storms.
“Abnormally dry” is the lowest level of the five-tiered system used to rank the severity of a drought.
The low-level drought status comes just two months after the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center forecast that all Nevada drought designations were likely to lift by spring.
As of Feb. 8, the Truckee and Lake Tahoe basins were at just over 60 percent of median snowpack for the year and the Walker and Carson basins were around 70 percent.
Approximately four more atmospheric rivers are needed to bring the basins up to median levels, according to hydrologist Jeff Anderson.
Northern, northeastern and eastern Nevada basins are all sitting at more than 100 percent of median snowpack.
The Spring Mountains region, which started the year at just 9 percent of median, has jumped to 132 percent.