Nearly two-thirds of California is now drought-free

Thanks to a series of repeat rainfall and snow events this season, nearly two-thirds of California is now drought-free, new data revealed on Thursday.

Just 36.42 percent of the Golden State is now experiencing drought — a massive plunge from the 100 percent at this time last year and the 99.76 percent on the fall start date of the so-called “water year,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“Slight improvements over the last week, major improvements since the beginning of the water year,” the National Weather Service’s Bay Area branch stated, referring to Oct. 1, 2022.

Across California, just 27.93 percent of the state is experiencing moderate drought, while only 8.49 percent is enduring severe drought, the Drought Monitor reported. No areas are currently under extreme or exceptional drought conditions.

Meanwhile, 63.58 percent of the state has escaped drought entirely — with 44.6 percent of the state showing zero dryness at all and 18.92 percent coping with “abnormally dry” but not drought conditions.

“Two atmospheric river events struck California and portions of neighboring states, with the second arriving as the drought-monitoring period ended,” the Drought Monitor said in a statement.

“Rain, along with melting of lower-elevation snowpack and dam releases, also led to significant water rises along many waterways in California’s Central Valley,” the statement continued.

Meanwhile, the average mid-March snow water equivalent — the amount of water contained in snow — of high-elevation Sierra Nevada snowpack climbed to more than 220 percent of seasonal norms, the agency added.

In line with the huge amounts of rainfall that have washed over the state this season, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) announced on Wednesday that it was rescinding all water use restrictions.

Acknowledging significant improvements in availability of state water supplies, MWD warned that storage reserves have been drawn down and that challenges remain in the region’s other source of imported water — the Colorado River.

As such, MWD called upon residents and business to continue using water efficiently and to prepare for potentially steep cuts from Colorado River supplies.

“Southern California remains in a water supply deficit,” Tracy Quinn, chair of MWD’s One Water Committee, said in a statement. 

“The more efficiently we all use water today, the more we can keep in storage for a future dry year,” Quinn added. “And as we face climate whiplash, dry conditions could return as soon as next year.”