Drought monitor update: California out of extreme drought for 1st time since 2020
CBSMar 16, 2023
On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced the end of drought restrictions for 7M people following California's 11th atmospheric river this season, with the state recording record snow and rainfall this year.
The decision by the company, which supplies water for 19M people in six counties, has ended nearly a year of restrictions due to severe water shortages.
Although the recent storms have brought floods and other devastating weather events, they do present some benefits: For the first time since 2020, California isn't faced with extreme drought, allowing districts to ease the iron-grip water restrictions imposed on the parched state.
While the recent rain in California may be a respite in some regions from the years-long drought plaguing the state, much of California still remains in some sort of drought or under abnormally dry conditions. The complex nature of climate change means that there will still be wet and dry extremes, so Californians shouldn't believe that the drought is over and must keep conserving water.