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California has been battling torrential rain and heavy snowfall since late final 12 months, which has helped raise almost two-thirds of the state out of drought situations.
Actually, in accordance to the US Drought Monitor, as of March 16, solely 36% of the state of California is in drought, in contrast to 100% on January 1.
“It appears that droughts of surface water — droughts associated with streams and reservoirs — may be over in California by summer,” stated Dan McEvoy, a drought and water researcher on the Desert Analysis Institute’s Western Regional Local weather Heart.
Rain and snow will assist replenish water methods depleted by drought
Eleven atmospheric river storms, which started in late December, lashed California with document quantities of rain and snow.
For instance, as of March 13, season-to-date snowfall on the Central Sierra Snow Lab in Donner Go, California, exceeded 650 inches, in contrast to the traditional full-season common of about 360 inches. dry monitor Stated.
Drought eases after winter storms
Winter precipitation erased an extraordinary and extreme drought in California for the first time since 2020.
“Clearly the drop in water content this year has greatly exacerbated the drought,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “It hasn’t completely ended the drought, but we are in a very different place than we were a year ago.”
Where does California’s water come from?
California’s water comes from a mix of sources including snowpack, reservoirs and groundwater.
Although winter storms have helped the state’s snowpack and reservoirs, groundwater basins have been too slow to recover, according to California Department of Water Resources. Many rural areas nonetheless face water provide challenges, particularly communities that depend on groundwater provides which have been depleted due to extended drought.
It’s going to take a couple of moist 12 months for groundwater ranges to enhance considerably on a statewide scale, the division stated in a information launch.
According to a recent study, after a drought, Precipitation must have time to flow through the soil and restoring depleted aquifers earlier than groundwater ranges return to regular. researchers have decided This can take an average of three years,
Contribution: Associated Press