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Almost half of California is drought-free after heavy storms

Floods from heavy storms have replaced drought in Northern California. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday that 42 percent of the state is now drought-free, compared to 3 percent at this time last year. About 7 percent is considered “abnormally dry” but isn’t officially experiencing a drought.

The Sierra Nevada mountains have had two times the normal amount of precipitation so far this winter, according to the National Weather Service.

But Southern California’s drought is still going strong with most of the region in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.

Maps courtesy of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The U.S. Drought Monitor is produced by NDMC-UNL, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.