Only 11 percent of California remains in severe drought

California Drought Monitor Map: One-year comparison Left: Feb. 9, 2016 Right: Feb. 7, 2017 California Drought Monitor Map: One-year comparison Left: Feb. 9, 2016 Right: Feb. 7, 2017 Photo: California Drought Monitor Photo: California Drought Monitor Image 1 of / 62 Caption Close Only 11 percent of California remains in severe drought 1 / 62 Back to Gallery

Going, going, but not gone yet.

About 47 percent of California still faces a drought, and the conditions are severe in 11 percent of the state, according to the most recent weekly report from the U.S. Drought Monitor. Some 83 percent of the state was in the monitor's second-most severe category one year ago.

The dramatic changes in the drought map comes amid a rainy season marked by a series of moisture-packed atmospheric rivers that drenched the parched West Coast and dumped copious amounts of snow in the Sierra Nevada. All of this rain has ended the drought in most of Northern California.

As a result, nearly all of the state's major reservoirs are currently above historical average levels, the Drought Monitor reports. The state's two largest reservoirs, Oroville and Shasta, are currently at 126 percent and 124 percent, respectively. What's more, the Sierra snowpack is now at an impressive 173 percent of average.

"Looking at the map of California three months, we were seeing 73 percent of the state in drought and now we're seeing 47 percent," said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. "If we go back to the start of the water year, which is Oct. 1, California had over 83.5 percent is drought. The map that came out a year ago, 94.7 percent of the state was in drought. We've made a big change toward the positive. This winter has been very good for the drought."

Despite the promising situation, water regulators extended conservation measures on Wednesday and will continue to do so until at least the spring as a precaution against a dry weather spell.