The California drought is over. definitive.

After more than a month of torrential rain and heavy snow in the mountains, the drought is over in California.

However, with all bonuses liquid, some in the media and elsewhere are reluctant to give it up, as noted in the NY Times headline below.

And the US Drought Watchdog has severe drought across much of the state.

I believe the evidence for an end to the drought in California is pretty clear. But consider the facts found below and decide for yourself.

Reservoir and Snowpack

Let’s start with the most important drought measure… the total amount of water stored in the reservoirs plus the amount of water that will be available from the snow and ice (see below).

It is now WAY above normal.

In fact, the total amount of water now available is more than usual in April after months of additional rainfall.

The former shortfall in reservoir water storage in California is now gone. For example, check out the Great Lake Orville Reservoir in northern CA” over the past month, it’s gone from about 60% of normal to 106%!

Current snow and ice, an important source of water for late spring, summer and fall?

It is now 200% more than normal for all major areas of Sierra… and close to 300% for southern Sierra. Good skiing is good.

Soil and river moisture

The state experienced flooding and high saturation due to all the rain. As you might expect, soil moisture values ​​are now very, very high (see below from NOAA National Integrated Drought Information System, NIDIS). Green is above normal. Dark blue represents the wettest 1% period on record of the day.

Rivers around California are typically very high, with many flowing over the 90th percentile (top 10 percent for this period).

And the Palmer Drought Severity Index, which looks at current and past rainfall plus temperature, shows wetter statewide. No drought.

Make up for the lack of rainfall for many years

An important aspect of the recent massive rainfall is that it has erased many years of rainfall deficits. Consider San Francisco, where cumulative rainfall observed over the past two years is shown in green (and climate change is indicated by the brown line)

For most of the past two years, San Fran has received less than usual rainfall, but recent floodwaters have pushed it above normal!

A similar situation for Los Angeles.

But what about Lake Mead/Lake Powell and Groundwater?

Media has been fixed on Lake Mead/Lake Powell, where water levels are all lower than normal; both are fed by the Colorado River, Not Sierra Nevada reservoirs/snowstones (see Colorado River Basin below). The water in these lakes supports water needs in southern CA and Arizona and provides electricity from the Hoover Dam.

It is true that water levels in important lakes/reservoirs (Mead and Powell) are dropping (see Lake Mead graph below).

But this decline is not due to meteorological/climate changes, but to increased use to support a growing population and water-intensive agriculture. You can see this by looking at the long-term trend of ice cover in the Colorado River Basin and the water flow into Lake Mead (below).

The drop in groundwater levels in California is a similar story, with the biggest drop in the past 20 years in agricultural areas south of the Central Valley (see below). We are exploiting too much subsurface water to be sustainable.

Key point: Much of California is relatively arid, with little long-term trend in rainfall. There’s a reason that Spaniard hasn’t moved north to California in two centuries: it’s too dry for farming. Only a large reservoir and water transport system can create a densely populated country.

Much of California experiences natural periods of above and below-normal rainfall, and we’ve just gone through one, transitioning from a few years of aridity to a very wet winter.

The recent meteorological drought has ended. But California needs long-term planning and better infrastructure to sustainably support current and future populations and its massive agricultural industry.

Blame climate change as the main cause of current problems and the recent “drought” for failing to address the real problems.