Looks like our unusually wet winter had a major pay off.
Just about everyone in California had enough of hydroplaning, mudslides, flooding, and canceled flights. But a map released by the U.S. Drought Monitor reveals that all that the precipitation induced stress wasn’t all for nothing!
The Drought Monitor is produced jointly by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Though it only accounts as one measure for drought conditions, it is equitably comprehensive. Data is also collected from groundwater conditions, as well as a variety of other factors, and is then distributed across the state.
The map below was released last week by the U.S. Drought Monitor and depicts the tremendous progress the state has made in regards to parchedness levels within the past three years. In the picture on the left, you can see that drought conditions in California have been reduced to one percent compared to the picture on the right where 97 percent of California accounted for being in a drought in March of 2016.
Even though we’re in the clear, that’s not to say that we should throw out all of our safety measures when it comes to conserving water! It’d be wise to only run washers when they’re completely full, keep showers down to five minutes long, and to turn you facets off when brushing teeth. If you need a little refresher on how to conserve water on a daily basis, both indoors and out, click here.