The Daily Populous Friday January 9th, 2026 night edition
Authored by abc7news.com and submitted by ProgressiveSnark2

California has zero areas of dryness for 1st time in 25 years: Drought Monitor

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Incredible news for California's water supply entering the new year - not a single square mile of California is categorized as dry for the first time in 25 years, according to the latest US Drought Monitor.

Map of California's Drought Monitor showing dryness from North to South.

As of December 30, 2025, California is effectively out of drought across almost the entire state, where 0% of the state's total area is experiencing drought conditions, according to the California Drought Monitor on CalMatters.

RELATED: Bay Area cities above normal rainfall levels, CA snowpack makes massive leap after week of storms

Final storms in December 2025 pulled nearly 100% of the state out of drought.

As of January 8, 2026, measurements showed virtually no dryness remaining, marking an "exceptionally wet period" that has filled the state's reservoirs to a healthy level.

RELATED: No widespread drought is expected in California for the next 2 years, forecasters say

This news is the culmination of several years of strong rainfall.

The Golden State was first declared drought-free in years in 2023 after a winter deluge of storms and atmospheric rivers soaked the state in November and improved forecasts for 2025.

Table of highlights for the latest Drought Monitor findings.

We have not had a similar scenario where there was not a single dry patch on that map for California since December 2000.

RELATED: Experts examine how climate change will create more king tides in Bay Area

This means if you're younger than 25, you've always been living in a world where California is either entering or recovering from drought.

Current systemwide reservoir capacity sees seven of 12 major state-owned reservoirs at 75% or higher capacity.

hey-coffee-eyes on January 8th, 2026 at 21:31 UTC »

All because I stopped washing my car. No need to thank me, you guys are the real heroes 👍

CondescendingShitbag on January 8th, 2026 at 20:59 UTC »

Makes sense. When Ben Shapiro moved out of the state he took the last remaining dry patch with him; his wife.

paulfromatlanta on January 8th, 2026 at 20:22 UTC »

Now they just need more snow pack and no more foolish dam openings and California might experience "normal." They haven't had that for a while...