January storms raised the vital Sierra Nevada snowpack to normal for this time of year, an important development for California’s water supply, state officials said Thursday after the second survey of the winter.
A very wet winter has greatly reduced drought conditions in California.
The U.S. Drought Monitor reports Thursday that more than 34 percent of the state including the Sierra Nevada, much of the Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area is free of any significant dryness.
The monitor says heavy rain has also removed most of the moderate drought that stretched from the Central Coast down through the southern tier of the state, leaving a lesser condition designated as abnormally dry.
Just about 10½ percent of California — in the far north and south — is categorized as being in moderate or severe drought.
At the start of the year less than 8 percent of California was free of any drought or abnormally dry conditions.
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