California Reservoirs Hit 'Healthiest' Water Levels in 10 Years

A chart from California's Department of Water Resources shows that the state's lakes and reservoirs have hit their healthiest water levels in more than a decade.

The state has faced an abnormally wet winter as moisture-laden storms and atmospheric rivers dumped a deluge of rain and snow beginning in January. Heavy rain helped supplement some of the state's reservoirs, while a "biblical" blizzard in March significantly improved the state's snowpack situation. Once the snowpack begins to melt in the spring, the reservoirs will continue to improve.

On Thursday, extreme storm chaser Colin McCarthy shared the updated chart, revealing the positive improvement to California's major reservoirs.

"California's water storage is at its healthiest levels in over a decade," McCarthy posted on X (formerly Twitter).

"Virtually every major reservoir in the state has average to above-average storage, with a substantial 115% of average snowpack still to melt," he continued. "The last two years have been an amazing reprieve from the multiple brutal, record-breaking droughts that have plagued the state in the last decade."

A California Department of Water Resources spokesperson told Newsweek: "California's reservoirs are in good shape after a wet winter. Right now, reservoirs statewide are 116 percent of average for this time of year.

"It's too early to tell exactly how spring runoff will impact all of our reservoirs, but generally statewide we're seeing above-average levels, and we'll continue to manage our reservoirs to ensure adequate water supply should we be headed into a dry year next year with the possible onset of La Niña conditions," the spokesperson said.

Lake Cachuma is at 100 percent of its capacity, and several reservoirs aren't far behind, including Casitas Lake at 98 percent capacity, Lake Shasta at 95 percent capacity, Diamond Valley Lake at 90 percent capacity and Lake Oroville at 89 percent capacity.

Several reservoirs are above 100 percent of their historical average, according to the chart. They are Lake Shasta, Lake Oroville, New Bullards Bar Reservoir, Folsom Lake, Lake Camanche, New Melones Lake, Don Pedro Lake, Lake McClure, Trinity Lake, Pine Flat Lake, Millerton Lake, Diamond Valley Lake, Lake Sonoma, Lake Casitas and Cachuma Lake.

A few of the state's reservoirs are still below their historical average, such as San Luis Reservoir, which, at 74 percent full, is at 87 percent of its historical average, and Castaic Lake, which is 79 percent full and at 92 percent of its historical average.

The improvement comes after the state battled years of severe drought that depleted its lakes and reservoirs.

Many of the lakes and reservoirs recovered last year after an abnormally wet winter saturated the state. After similar wet weather this winter season, AccuWeather meteorologists believed that California's water situation was in such an improved condition that the state wouldn't struggle with drought until at least 2026.

In some cases this winter, water officials even had to release water from some reservoirs, such as Lake Oroville, because the water level was too high for this time of year. Despite the release, Lake Oroville is still 11 feet above 2023 levels and 120 feet above 2022 levels.

Update 4/12/24, 3:08 p.m. ET: This story was updated to include a comment from the California Department of Water Resources.