When you think of California weather, you probably don't think of much rain. You'd be correct! California typically doesn't get a lot of rainfall and is very often in drought, especially during the summertime. 

In fact, even though it may be hard to believe, California has been in "drought" for the last 25 years in a row....that was until this past week. 

California Drought Streak

Yes, you read that correctly. California has had some type of drought somewhere in the state every single week for the last 25 years (technically just over) in a row. The last time California was completely drought free was December 26th, 2000! Since then, every single drought outlook has had some sort of drought somewhere in the state. Here's what it looked like on January 2nd, 2001:

Since that outlook, all the way up until January 5th, 2026, California had a drought. Now, this is the current drought outlook for the state:

Pretty wild, right? The rain that California got from the atmospheric river at the end of last year and leading up into the new year knocked the drought out completely out of the state. Look at the comparison from the current drought monitor for the state compared to what it was near the end of 2021, just a few years ago. What a difference! 

Nearly half the state was in Exceptional Drought! 

Typically in a La Nina year, which we are this year, that means drier than normal for California, but this one stands out as the opposite for the state! This past November was the 26th wettest November on record for them since 1895! Look at the last 60 days in California; their rainfall compared to normal...there's some spots over 300% ABOVE what they normally receive.