California is drought-free for first time in years. What it means.

California is drought-free for first time in years. What it means.
By Diana Leonard
November 8, 2023 at 10:44 a.m. EST
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/11/08/california-is-drought-free-first-time-years-what-it-means/


California is drought-free for the first time in more than three years because of a remarkably wet, snowy winter and a rare tropical storm over the summer. The last remaining traces of drought disappeared in October, as autumn rainstorms grazed the northwestern corner of the state.

Last year at this time, California faced a deepening water crisis amid “extreme” and “exceptional” drought, and officials feared another dry winter because of La Niña, the climate pattern that tends to reduce precipitation in southern and central California. It was the culmination of the three driest years on record, a period defined by parched reservoirs, heat waves and record-breaking wildfires.

But, defying predictions, last winter was exceptionally wet. Now, major reservoirs sit at 125 percent of their average levels, heading into an El Niño winter that tilts the odds toward another wet year. The first significant storm of the season could arrive next week.

“We saw just a tremendous winter that we hadn’t seen in a long time,” Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb., said. “Not only did that bring moisture into the water projects — the reservoirs and lakes across the state — but it also did wonders for replenishing moisture in the ground and the soils.”