Monday March 13, 2023
ABC 10 —
Following three years of drought, this winter has brought an unexpected deluge to the state, leading some experts to declare the drought over.
The state once again finds itself in a wet period thanks to a couple of atmospheric rivers pointed at the state. Many areas in the Sierra have already surpassed 600 inches of snowfall and statewide the snowpack has bumped up to 212% of normal to date. These numbers will continue to rise with the higher elevations of the Sierra expected to receive another 100″ of snow in the coming days.
Although the latest drought monitor showed much improvement, much of the state remains in some sort of drought or abnormally dry conditions. These numbers continue to improve with every drought update thanks to persistent storm activity moving into California from the Pacific.
The deep snowpack will likely fill most of California’s reservoirs once the spring and early summer melting period wraps up. Questions remain for Shasta and Trinity lakes, located in the northern reaches of the state. The reservoirs dropped exceptionally low thanks to the drought and those areas haven’t seen the record precipitation like the basins further south have seen. Trinity is currently at 33% of capacity while Shasta is at 63%.