BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The recent storm that drenched the West Coast did not make a substantial dent in California’s water woes, with all counties still in a moderate drought or worse, according to a report by the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Most of Kern County is still in an “exceptional drought” after receiving the most rain in the better part of a year with .75 of an inch in Bakersfield on Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Other areas of Kern saw rainfall totals from .08 of an inch in the area of Indian Wells Canyon and up to 1.77 inches in Hart Flat.

“While the rain on Monday was a welcoming site, it didn’t do much for our local drought,” said 17 News Chief Forecaster Kevin Charette. “But we can shut off our sprinklers for a good two weeks, which in return helps with water saving efforts! We have a chance of showers next week, so every bit helps.”
The National Drought Mitigation Center has compiled a list of drought impacts and can be viewed here.
The recent downpour only impacted areas of extreme and exceptional drought by a few percent in Northern California where multiple inches of rainfall was recorded, according to the report. Even with multiple inches of rain in some parts of the state, it still wasn’t enough to significantly impact low reservoirs. The Lake Oroville Reservoir only saw a 5 percent raise.
San Diego County, Imperial County and the southeast corner of Riverside County are the only counties in the state experiencing a moderate drought.
As of Oct. 19 the whole state was in a moderate drought or worse: 93.81 percent of the state was in a severe drought, 87.18 percent was in an extreme drought and 45.66 percent was experiencing an exceptional drought.
As of Oct. 26 areas of extreme drought have gone down to 83.33 percent and areas with an exceptional drought has decreased to 38.74 percent of the state.
Last year at this time 84.6 percent of the California was abnormally dry, 67.54 percent was in a moderate drought, 35.61 was in a severe drought, 12.74 was in a extreme drought and an exceptional drought was nonexistent.
For more information and full reports you can visit the National Drought Mitigation Center website.