California drought update: Here’s how fast conditions improved this year

California drought conditions have not budged in the last week, after months of drastic improvement.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s Thursday update, 91% of the state is free of drought conditions. About 34% is still at least “abnormally dry.” Parts of far Northern California and portions of Inyo, San Bernardino and Riverside counties make up the 8.8% of the state in “moderate drought.” No areas are in severe, extreme or exceptional drought conditions.

The same was true last week, but three months it was the opposite: More than 92% of the state was in at least “moderate drought” conditions, and 43% was in “severe.” One year ago, 100% of the state was facing drought.

Roughly 743,000 people remain in drought areas, according to the drought monitor — an improvement over the 5 million in March.

And the state’s reservoirs are reaching historic levels, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Shasta Dam hit a four-year high this year, reaching 94% total capacity as of April 19.

On Thursday, DWR officials announced they would provide 100% of water supplies to cities and agriculture under the State Water Project — the first time full allocation to 27 million residents has been given since 2006.

The generous amount of water the state received over the winter months removed the state from its three year drought, ending water restrictions across the state and posing flood concerns.

The interactive map below shows data collected from the U.S. Drought Monitor, and was last updated April 20. Here you can see what areas in California are still undergoing dry conditions:

This story was originally published April 20, 2023 at 1:20 PM.