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After Snow Storm, Less Than Half of California Is in Drought
(Bloomberg) -- A sprawling winter storm last week put a substantial dent in California’s historic water shortage with less than half of its land now in drought for the first time since 2020.
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Across the most populous US state, all categories of drought have dropped to 49.13% as of Feb. 28, down from 84.6% last week, the US Drought Monitor said Thursday. The plunge came after snow shut major highways and covered coastal mountains, triggering San Diego’s first-ever blizzard warning. California is now completely clear of the two worst categories of drought.
The last time less than 50% of California was in drought was July 21, 2020. Just over 83% of the state is still classified as abnormally dry, USDM data show. While record snows have fallen in the Sierra Nevada and the state’s reservoirs are near or above normal levels, its groundwater is still in dire shape, Richard Heim, of the US National Centers for Environmental Information, wrote Thursday.
Central California’s Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills “are now free of drought and abnormal dryness for the first time since January 2020,” Heim wrote.
“The Pacific weather systems this week and last week added copious precipitation that has been received from atmospheric rivers since December 2022,” Heim added. “Abnormal dryness and moderate to severe drought were contracted across much of California to reflect the above-normal precipitation in recent months, above-normal snowpack and improved reservoir levels.”
Drought has plagued California for much of the past three years, stressing water resource agreements, imperiling agriculture and taxing communities needing drinking water. The drought also increased risks of deadly and damaging wildfires across California.
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