CA Dubbed Drought Free For The 1st Time In 25 Years Thanks To Holiday Storms

Although recent storms spurred flooding, holiday travel chaos and even deaths in California, the constant downpour pulled the state out of drought, officials announced.

As of Dec. 30, 2025, the entirety of the Golden State has exited drought status for the first time in some 25 years, according to the California Drought Monitor.

The last time that happened was December of 2000, according to the monitor. California also experienced periods with less than 1 percent of abnormal dryness in 2005 and 2011.

As of Jan. 8, the monitor showed no dryness remaining. Following the series of winter storms, the state's reservoirs have been reportedly restored.

The last time the Golden State was declared drought free was in 2023, after a parade of storms and atmospheric rivers drenched California.

But it isn't just this winter season that saved the state from drought, it is the culmination of several years of consistent rainfall.

According to the drought monitor, California has recently received 200 percent of its normal precipitation for this time of year.

“It’s been an interesting season,” said Mike Wofford, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, told the Los Angeles Times last week. “We’re way above normal for precipitation.”

As of Jan. 4, Southern California had already received 14 inches of rain as of Oct 1, even though the period from October to mid-November was bone dry.

“There’s the potential that we’ll already meet our average rainfall for the entire 12-month period by later today if we end up getting half an inch or more of rain,” Robbie Munroe, a NWS forecaster told the Times.

Meanwhile Northern California was soaked — and in some communities, submerged — by a series of storms that delivered several inches of rain across coastal and inland areas, pushing some locations to record or near-record rainfall totals for the start of January, according to weather data.

READ MORE:

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• Marin County Underwater Amid Highest Tide In Decades: Photos
• Here’s How Much Rain NorCal Communities Have Received In Recent Storms
  
• SoCal Sees Unusually Heavy Early January Rainfall After Dry Start To Season