Less than half the state of California is now considered to be in exceptional drought status—or D-4—the highest intensity level as measured by the Drought Monitor.
This is the first time since July that has occurred. Four to 12 inches of rainfall in recent days is responsible for the change.
"This precipitation came after the previous week’s moderate to heavy precipitation in the same area, continuing a wet pattern from northern California northward into the Pacific Northwest since mid-October," the report's text summary stated. "The wet weather finally allowed ample runoff (while producing stream and river flooding) that raised major reservoir levels (as of Dec. 16) in most of northern and central California by 6 to 10 percentage points from normal capacity (compared to Nov. 28 values)."
The latest Drought Monitor report released Thursday showed a significant improvement over much of the state. A little more than 32 percent of the state is considered at a D-4 level currently, down from 55 percent last week.
Small portions of the state even slid into "abnormally dry" status this fall, the weakest of drought intensities on the report. Those areas include portions of Del Norte County in the far northwestern corner of California, and far eastern San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
The Central Coast however is still in D-4 status and has been since mid-February. San Luis Obispo county was one of the first areas of the state to hit that critical level, along with the southern San Joaquin Valley.
There is still concern over the amount of snowfall accumulating in the watershed areas of the Sierra Nevada. The warm "pineapple express" storms that dropped significant rainfall throughout much of California, did little to bulk up the state's snowpack reserves.