CA's 100-Year Record-Low Rainfall Worsens State's Drought

CALIFORNIA — The Golden State was on its way to a third year of drought as January and February turned out to be two of the driest months in more than 100 years in California, state water officials said this week.

The state experienced record-breaking heat waves and only light rain in the first two months of 2022, squashing hopes that a wet October and December raised last year.

Just one month remains in California's wet season, and no major storms are in the forecast. The state's top water official warned that Californians should strap in for a third year of drought conditions.

"A significantly below-average snowpack combined with already low reservoir levels make it critical that all Californians step up and conserve water every day to help the state meet the challenges of severe drought," said California Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth.

The department announced Tuesday that statewide snowpack had diminished to 63 percent of average for this time of year. That metric came from the third snow survey of the season at Phillips Station near South Lake Tahoe on Tuesday.

December, January and February are traditionally the state's wettest months, producing half of its annual rainfall, water officials said.

"We were all encouraged after all that rain and snow in October and December, but after how dry these last months were, there's no guarantee snowmelt will run off and follow the same historical patterns they have in the past, which makes today all that much more important," said Sean de Guzman, the DWR’s manager of snow surveys.

Water officials on Tuesday recorded a snow depth of 35 inches and snow water content of 16 inches, results that are only 68 percent of average, de Guzman said.

"Spring is right around the corner, so we'll start to see the snowpack melt off and refill our reservoirs as much as possible," he said. He added: "Most of our major reservoirs are still below average."

Officials aren't confident enough to expect a "miracle March," which isn't historically the wettest month. But the next several weeks hold the potential to bring December levels of precipitation, National Weather Service officials said in a February climate update on Monday.

"We could receive two or three average storms in California, so below-average temperatures but average precipitation across the state is the latest forecast for March 2022," weather service officials said. "So by no means a miracle March, by no means as wet as what we saw in December, but average precipitation in March is still significant."

The lengthy dry season potentially laid the groundwork for a treacherous wildfire season.

“All we’ve done with this very wet start and then dry end to the water year is provide more fuel for that fire,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Drew Peterson, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Continued drought also spells trouble for Central California farmers, who will be getting little to no water again from a key water system.

Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation said it will not be able to provide some farmers with water from the Central Valley Project, a vast system of dams, reservoirs and canals it oversees in the state.

That means farmers in the agricultural region that produces much of the country's fruit, nuts and vegetables will again need to find other water sources — or leave land fallow, as many have done in recent years.

If the coming months bring wetter weather, the federal government could provide some water to farmers.

"But even if we get a miracle March, it’s going to be a pretty low allocation, like last year," said Ernest Conant, the reclamation bureau’s director of the California-Great Basin region.

The next snowpack survey will be conducted March 30.

READ MORE: Megadrought Delivers Fourth Driest January And February To LA

The Associated Press contributed to this report.