Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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The drought is not gone. In recent weeks, it has gotten worse.

The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor map has placed most of the Roanoke and New River valleys back under moderate drought, while almost all of Virginia except the northern tip is under "abnormally dry," or minor drought.

Rain is expected today and tonight -- possibly beginning as a period of snow, sleet and freezing rain that could briefly slicken some areas this morning -- but it won't be nearly enough to make a serious dent in the long-term problem.

So far in February, only .38 inch of rain has fallen in Roanoke and only .58 in Blacksburg.

Both sites were near normal for precipitation in December and January. Those rains were enough to get most of Southwest Virginia out of moderate drought for a short time but not enough to overcome about four years of drier than normal weather. Now, just a couple of weeks of mostly dry weather has us slipping into deeper drought, again.

Many people have noted that it's not snowing like it's supposed to in this winter or in several recent ones, But really, that is only a tiny subset of a much bigger issue: It's not raining like it's supposed to at any time of year.