Nature

California Reservoirs Pictured Before and After the Wettest Winter in Five Years

At a Glance

Recent rain helped replenish some of the state's reservoirs.
Levels should go even higher as the snowpack in the mountains begins to melt.

It's amazing what a little much-welcomed rain has done to some of California's reservoirs.

The Golden State has suffered through five years of severe drought and with one of the wettest winters since 2012, reservoirs are filling up. Their levels should go even higher as the snowpack in the mountains begins to melt with the coming spring.

Moisture piped into California during several atmospheric river events this winter has put a huge dent in drought conditions across much of the state, weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce said.

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According to NASA, the stormy weather from late December through January may have regained 37 percent of the snow-water deficit that has built up during the past five years, Dolce noted.

To get a better understanding of how the rain has benefitted California, here are some before and after satellite images of a few of the state's reservoirs, including Millerton Lake, 15 miles north of Fresno; San Luis Reservoir, near the town of Los Banos in the San Joaquin Valley; and Folsom Lake, located on the American River about 25 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento.

San Luis Reservoir

Folsom Lake

Millerton Lake

While the drought has ended in northern California, southern parts of the state still need more precipitation to make up for the long-term drought conditions in place there, Dolce said. Just over 50 percent of the Golden State is still experiencing drought, all of that in the southern half of the state.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: California Flooding, January 2017