There has been a remarkable turnaround. That’s the effect frequent powerful storms with tremendous amounts of snow and heavy rain have had on easing California’s persistent drought conditions this winter.
The status report from the U.S. Drought Monitor on Thursday, March 2, showed that the recent deluge of precipitation at the end of February and into the start of March lifted large sections of California out of drought entirely. This development followed earlier improvements after a series of atmospheric rivers helped eradicate the state’s “extreme” or “exceptional” drought conditions back in January. On Nov. 29, 2022, nearly 85% of California was experiencing “severe” drought conditions, but that number had fallen to just under 25% by Feb. 28.
