One of the biggest weather stories in recent years is the distinct lack of weather in much of the country—the drought is an ongoing, slow-motion disaster in the western United States, but abnormally dry conditions are starting to spread east. More than half of the United States is suffering from an unusual lack of rainfall, with much of the south and East Coast joining the west in their need for water.

Remember when the southern Plains had so much heavy rain this spring that the storms straight-up murdered their years-long drought in something like four weeks? The good ol’ days! The region is starting to slip back into a drought, but it’s not too late for things to improve again.

If anyone is eagerly following news of the strengthening El Niño in the Pacific, it’s California. Strong El Niño events have a history of bringing drenching rain to the West Coast during the winter months, and we could see that play out this year. However, don’t get too wrapped-up in the hype—it’s going to take more than one rainy stretch to ease the damage done by the lasting drought.

Hawaii is typically a place people think of with a wistful sigh: tropical beaches, lush greenery, and weather so reliable the forecast hardly budges. The fiftieth state has had a hard time living up to that third point, and the state’s long-lasting drought could return and get worse if El Niño lives up to its bluster.

If it seems like that promising thunderstorm on the horizon will defy the laws of physics to avoid where you live—depriving you of needed rain and soothing thunder—you’re not alone. Even though it seems like won’t stop raining in much of the eastern U.S., many areas are slipping into drought as we head into the middle of the summer.

The recent rains over the southern Plains have been nothing less than spectacular, spawning a constant stream of severe thunderstorms that dumped inches of rain in short time, flooding areas that haven’t seen this much in years. The influx of water finally paid off: only a few small parts of Texas and Oklahoma are still in drought.

It just keeps getting worse. The gully-washers and toad-stranglers are in full force across Texas and Oklahoma at this hour as the region stares down the barrel of more heavy rain and flooding after years of thirsting for some delicious sky water. Some spots could see double-digit rainfall totals by this time next week.

Remember a couple of years ago when Texas was in such a deep, seemingly-irreversible drought that experts trumpeted it as the next great megadrought, the likes of which would cause Texas to poof into a pile of dust by the end of the decade? The people currently wading through their living rooms remember.

Welcome to April! The next month looks like it'll be interesting, with warmer-than-average temperatures for much of the country, except the Northeast, where winter clings like tangy marinara to a plate of cold pasta. Sorry. This is no joke, either—we don't play those games. Nature really does just hate you.

As we deal with two winters in the U.S.—warm and dry out west, cold and snowy in the Northeast—exasperated Californians watched as Boston got nearly 100 inches of snow in a month. The storms brought up a common question among parched westerners: what would it take to ship Boston's snow to California?

This year's dry, warm winter in the western United States will continue virtually unchallenged for the foreseeable future, with little beneficial precipitation expected over the next week. The conditions will only serve to worsen the exceptional drought, leading the way to a potentially devastating wildfire season.

Some good news came out this morning that recent heavy rains have put a noticeable dent in the exceptional drought over parts of California, but the state still needs sustained rainfall (measured in feet, not inches) in order for their water situation to return to normal.

While the biggest weather story of the week is undoubtedly the blockbuster snow affecting western New York, there's an equally rare phenomenon occurring on the other side of the country: it's raining in California, and more could come as we head into the winter.

A prolonged heavy rain event is expected to unfold across a large portion of the central United States this weekend, with areas from Kansas to Kentucky facing the potential for up to seven inches of rain by early next week. The rain will do wonders to quench drought-bound soils in the region.

In a state seeing one of the worst droughts in its history, water is a precious commodity. Yesterday's burst of a nearly century-old water main wasted eight to ten million gallons of water, putting more strain on California's already-burdened resources. Here's some perspective on how much water Los Angeles really lost yesterday.

Heavy rainfall last week helped to alleviate some of the drought plaguing the Texas Panhandle (as well as parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico), but overall it was a drop in the bucket towards bringing the area back to normal.

The Weather Prediction Center predicts that up to seven inches of rain could fall across parts of California over the next couple of days, bringing much-needed relief to a state ravaged by drought since the summer of 2011.

A plume of tropical moisture known as an "atmospheric river" streaming across the Pacific Ocean will bring some much-needed rain to parts of the West Coast tonight and tomorrow, but will do little to satiate the exceptional drought that California has experienced for the last few years.