There they go again. Less than a year after the state of California pronounced the drought emergency over, it–drought, that is–is back. phys.org reports:

California is rapidly plunging back into drought, with severe conditions now existing in Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties—home to one-fourth of the state’s population, a national drought monitor said Thursday.
The weekly report released by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a project of government agencies and other partners, also shows 44 percent of the state is now considered to be in a moderate drought. It’s a dramatic jump from just last week, when the figure was 13 percent. MORE