California is still not out of a drought, and officials can’t yet predict when that will happen.
While there is no rulebook for when a drought is declared or canceled, snowpack, groundwater, and reservoir levels at the end of the rainy season will be important to assess, according to the California Natural Resources Agency.
However, the state is experiencing record wet conditions after five consecutive years of drought.
Water year 2017 (October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017) is now surpassing the wettest year on record (1982-83) in the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River watersheds and close to becoming the wettest year in the Tulare Basin (set in 1968-69).
Mountain snowpack is already above the April 1 seasonal averages throughout the Sierra Nevada as well.
The Governor issued the statewide drought emergency in January 2014.
