Don't let all this rain flush the word drought out of your vocabulary.

The two inches that poured down over the drizzly, dreary weekend weren't nearly enough to overcome two years of dryness and refill the region's half-empty reservoirs.

As a result, city and state restrictions continue on using water for washing cars and other nonessential purposes.

The National Weather Service said the rain that fell during the weekend brought the Baltimore region's total to 34.23 inches for the year. That's nearly 3 inches shy of the 37.17 inches that would be normal at this point in the year.

"Drought is not easily corrected in one rainy weekend," said Russell Dickerson, professor of meteorology at the University of Maryland.

The region's reservoir system is at 49 percent of capacity, which is an improvement from three months ago when it was at 41 percent. But several months of strong rains may be needed for the city to lift its water restrictions, said Cathy Powell, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works.

"This was a pretty good storm. Thank God it wasn't snow," said Luis Rosa, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "If we keep getting storms like this, we'll be above the normal annual amount of rainfall in a few weeks."

But Rosa predicted that most of this week will be dry.