Rain and snow pummeled California for weeks. Did it improve drought conditions?

UPDATE: Find the latest drought map here.

Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023:

California’s string of hazardous rain storms has moved the needle in the state’s drought conditions, regardless if its slight relief is temporary.

The U.S. Drought Monitor, in a weekly update published Thursday, reports the entire state at “abnormally dry” conditions as of Jan. 10. Of that, more than 95% of the area is experiencing at least “moderate drought” conditions, 46% of the land is in “severe drought,” less than 1% is in “extreme drought” and the state is no longer suffering any “exceptional drought conditions.”

This week’s numbers show significant improvement compared to last month, before the string of severe rain storms began.

“Moderate” conditions dropped by more than two percentage points and “severe” and “extreme” conditions statuses decreased more than 34 points. “Exceptional” drought conditions dropped more than seven percentage points to zero.

The data used in this interactive map, collected from the U.S. Drought Monitor, was updated Thursday. Here are the drought conditions in California. See where your area lands:

Is California still in drought?

The rain has “significantly reduced drought intensity in California,” the U.S. Drought Monitor wrote in a Thursday statement, but large parts of the state remain within “moderate” to “severe” drought status because the land has suffered years’ long moisture deficits.

“At least one-third of the state has been in drought (D1+),” the U.S. Drought Monitor wrote on its website “since February 2020.”

California remains abnormally dry, meaning the rain storms weren’t a drought buster. The state, according to previous Bee reporting, is reaping some short-term benefits from all of saturation:

1. The water supply is looking better
2. The reservoirs are filling up
3. The Sierra snowpack’s January measurement is the deepest its been in decades

The optimism comes with a price.

The string of hazardous storms that began on New Year’s Eve has toppled trees, destroyed homes, flooded cities and killed at least 17 people statewide. Millions of people remain under flood watch and more than 2,000 people are still without power.

Is more rain coming to Northern California?

Between Thursday and Monday, more heavy rainfall is expected to fall in California and parts of the Sierra Nevada.

At least two more strong winter storms, according to the National Weather Service, will pound Northern California late Friday to Monday. Expect heavy rainfall, mountain snow and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

This story was originally published January 12, 2023 at 10:55 AM with the headline "Rain and snow pummeled California for weeks. Did it improve drought conditions?."