Drought still grips this California region as 99% of the state recovers. Map shows latest

Brianna Taylor
·2 min read
22

The entire desert region is drought-free for the first time in three years, after record breaking rainfall from a historic tropical cyclone washed the region.

Former Hurricane Hilary brought Southern California’s first tropical storm in more than 80 years; and with it copious amounts of rainfall, flooded roads and mudslides. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate drought conditions fell from nearly 7.3% on Aug. 8 to roughly 0.2% on Tuesday.

The storm hit California in late August.

Is California still in a drought?

Whether the drought is over depends on where you are and the status of your water agency’s supply.

Approximately 9,800 people remain in drought areas, according to a Thursday update from the U.S. Drought Monitor — a significant decrease over roughly 903,000 people in August and about 892,000 people in July. In June, 704,800 people lived in drought stricken areas.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, California is roughly 99.8% drought-free. The state is free of “severe,” “extreme,” and “exceptional” drought conditions for 22 weeks in a row.

As of Thursday, a portion of one out of 58 counties, or 0.22% of the state, is in “moderate” drought. In August, parts of four counties or approximately 6.5% remained in drought.

The majority of Northern California is drought-free except for “moderate” conditions in Del Norte County. The far northwest part of the state reentered drought conditions in August and the county is now nearly 34.4% in the “moderate” stage. It had been drought-free since January.

Roughly 6% of the state remains in “abnormally dry” conditions for the third week in a row. Before that, conditions ranged between 25% and $29% since May.

The information used in this interactive map, collected from the U.S. Drought Monitor, was updated Thursday with data through Sept. 5. Here are the drought conditions in California:

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