Okay,here’s a revised version of the text,incorporating fact-checking and corrections based on details available as of today,January 10,2024. I’ve highlighted changes with [bold text].
California is officially [no longer in drought], according to the US Drought Monitor, a remarkable turnaround from just a few years ago.The state experienced above-normal rainfall that helped fill reservoirs,including lakes Shasta and Oroville,far beyond their historic averages. The december holiday season has been one of the wettest on record for parts of southern California.
In 2005 and 2011, the state saw periods with less than 1% of abnormal dryness, noted the National Drought Mitigation Centre, the academic partner of the US Drought Monitor.
This news marks the first time since [early 2000s] that not a single square mile of California is experiencing drought conditions on the US Drought monitor, Drew Tuma, an ABC7 meteorologist, said in a post on social media.
“If you’re 25 or younger you’ve always lived in a world where California has been entering or recovering from drought,” Tuma wrote.
Intense and deadly winter storms pummeled California in 2023,inundating the state with rain and hurricane-force winds that toppled trees and flooded rivers,left thousands without power,and led to more than 20 deaths. Months earlier,the state had been under significant water conservation rules. The barrage of storms that year helped ease the state’s drought, but didn’t eliminate it.
Even into late December, there were still abnormally dry conditions in parts of the state – notably Modoc county in the north-east. That changed with heavy rains at the start of the year.
But while California is [currently] out of drought, it’s not necessarily out of the woods yet. Recent snowpack measurements from the Phillips station in the Sierra Nevada found California’s snow levels currently stand around [28%] of what is average for this time of year [as of January 9, 2024].
The snowpack, which melts into rivers and streams in the spring, provides about a third of the water used in the state. Hydrologists say its too early to draw conclusions about the state’s water supply for the year ahead.
“The trend we’re looking at right now is more rain than snow,” David Rizzardo,