Likewise, about 15 percent of the state is in a “severe drought;”; last year at this time, that number was zero.
David Miskus, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who authored the report, tells Salon that California is having what he calls a “subnormal winter season,” adding that the upcoming part of the winter season still has an opportunity to provide the region with rain.
Faith Kearns, a researcher with the California Institute for Water Resources, agreed there is still time to decide whether this winter is a dry one or not.
Additionally, the winter of 2017, which brought some of the most intense storms in years to state, had an impact that trickled into the winter of 2018 — hence, the smaller percentage of drought conditions across the state in 2017 and early 2018.
Unless California sees more rain in the winter of 2018/2019, the state may see a bad fire season — again.
Indeed, California had its deadliest wildfire season ever in 2018.
Dr. Samuel Sandoval Solis, an Associate Professor in the department of Land, Air and Water Resources at the University of California, Davis, tells Salon that droughts in California have a variety of short-term effects in regard to how they affect the next fire season.
First, he said, droughts kill trees, and dead trees give wildfires the fuel they need to spread.
“I hope that doesn’t happen this year, but it is likely because when you have late rains — and for us late rain should be March and April — but basically you have understory, and when you have that underneath the trees, the grass will grow taller in late rain,” he explained.
As Miskus explained, “all signals are pointing to El Niño” weather patterns this winter, which typically means a wetter winter.

Background An acute water shortage was declared in Shimla, a city in northern India, on 21 May.
Low water discharge at local sources and the contamination of the Ashwani Khad (a stream that provides the city with most of its water), have reduced the quantity of water available.
Comment Shimla is supplied by five major water sources and has a water distribution system with an overall capacity of 65 million litres per day (MLD).
On paper, Shimla should not have a water shortage as its average water demand is only 45 MLD, but water leakages that occur during the pumping and distribution stages result in the loss of approximately 30 MLD.
The city, therefore, receives an average of 35 MLD throughout the year, significantly less than installed capacity.
The city gets the majority of its water from the Giri River because the Ashwani Khad, which once met the water needs of one-quarter of the population, was contaminated in 2005 by a nearby sewage treatment plant that caused an outbreak of hepatitis.
The Ashwani Khad is not the only water source that has been contaminated.
The Irrigation and Public Health Department stopped drawing water from over 50 sources in and around the city due to concern that they are also contaminated.
It is for that reason that tourists are being urged by residents on social media to not come to Shimla until the situation improves.
Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh’s second capital, is an example of how effective water management and appropriate infrastructure can alleviate water shortages, even during the driest of times.

Dry and mild conditions are in store for much of Brazil, as well as areas along the Pacific coast this winter.
Dryness to bring drought concerns to Brazil While winter is typically the driest time of the year for Brazil, much of the country will be drier than normal this season, including some of the country’s croplands.
The dryness will result in a growing drought concern, especially in some of the southeastern areas.
Mato Grosso is one of Brazil’s largest corn-producing states, and the worsening drought could cause this winter’s harvest to be up to 15 percent below normal, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, far southern areas, including the state of Rio Grande do Sul, will have occasional rainy spells as fronts move in from the south.
Rainy spells to cause localized flooding from Colombia to Uruguay While much of the season will be dry across Brazil, spells of wet weather will dampen areas around around Colombia and Venezuela.
Early-season rain could impact the construction of Colombia’s Ituango dam, the country’s largest dam project.
“[This area] will experience frequent fronts and near- to above-normal rainfall,” Nicholls said.
Warm, dry weather to dominate across Chile, central Argentina A warm and dry pattern is set to unfold along the Pacific coast from Peru through much of Chile and into central Argentina.
“A steady parade of storms will lead to frequent [rainfall] across southern portions of Chile and Argentina,“ Nicholls said.

In the Dirty Devil River basin in southeastern Utah, readings were at 1 percent of normal, with the nearby Escalante River basin at 8 percent.
In many parts of the state, reservoir reserves are still depleted after extended drought conditions from 2012 to 2016, but the two largest in Washington County were still mostly full.
As of Tuesday, the Washington County Water Conservancy District reported Sand Hollow Reservoir, the largest, was 96 percent full and Quail Creek Reservoir, the second-largest, was 78 percent full.
It’s important to preserve water close to our communities during this ongoing drought."
The district is in the midst of hosting its annual "Water Week," a series of education-focused events designed to give residents ideas on how the local water system works and how they can use water efficiently.
A 12-week stretch of low precipitation during the winter left Utah’s mountains with some of the lowest recorded snow totals in recent history, said Brian McInerney, a hydrologist at the National Weather Service.
"People come here to ski Utah powder, and when you don’t have it, snowmaking has to take over," he said.
Water week The Washington County Water Conservancy District is hosting its annual "Water Week" events this week.
Guests can learn more about the water supplies that sustain the county and how it’s treated to become safe drinking water.
“We hope everyone will participate in the Water Week activities and learn more about the water we use daily to support our families, jobs and economy,” said Ron Thompson, general manager of the district.

The irrigation season is approaching fast, and the Canadian Municipal Water Authority is making sure they planning ahead despite lake levels at Meredith still being above 70 feet.
Lake Meredith is currently at 75.6 feet.
"The lake is in a good spot right now," said Satterwhite.
"The river is still running twice what it normally does this time of year."
"This year the lake is starting off at a lot higher level," said Satterwhite.
Apple | Android Satterwhite knows homeowners will be reliant on water this year.
"We like drought tolerant grasses to start with," said Satterwhite.
"In the Panhandle, water is always a first thought in gardening," said Reid.
"100 percent plants, and no rock," said Reid.
"Mediterranean plants are heat tolerant, drought tolerant; but there’s still little patches of grass, with ground cover," said Reid.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The heavy rains that’s fallen over the past few months has watered the driest regions, leaving the entire state drought-free for the first time in more than two years.
“February was a really wet month in many areas of the state.
That helped eliminate the last bits of drought that were remaining state wide,” NOAA hydrologist Kevin Kodama said.
That’s good news for Hawaii’s agricultural sector, especially farmers and cattle ranchers on the Big Island.
“As cattlemen we are always encouraged by more rainfall,” said Dale Sandlin, general manager of the Hawaii Cattleman’s Council.
Kodama expects wetter-than-average conditions to remain through the end of April.
The wet winter, though, has brought problems of its own.
Several strong storms have spurred flooding in parts of the state.
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The largely dry winter across California is leading to worsening drought conditions and may cause officials to implement water restrictions again in the coming months.
On Tuesday, members of the state Water Resources Control Board held a meeting to discuss a proposal to implement water restrictions across the state but delayed a decision, according to the Associated Press.
This meeting comes just days after the U.S. Drought Monitor released a report showing that nearly half the state has returned to severe drought conditions.
Water restrictions were in place across California from 2013 to 2017 as extreme drought gripped the state, but the restrictions were lifted after an abundance of rain and mountain snow erased much of the drought during the winter of 2016-2017.
Some of the restrictions would include prohibitions on watering lawns, washing sidewalks, using a hose without an automatic shut-off nozzle, running an ornamental fountain without a recirculating system and watering outside within 48 hours of a good rain, according to AP.
In this Jan. 3, 2018, file photo, Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program for the Department of Water Resources, from left, accompanied by Grant Davis, director of the department, and Michelle Mead, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, leave the nearly snow barren Phillips Station snow course, after conducting the first snow survey of the season near Echo Summit, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) This winter has been exceptionally dry across California with most areas receiving only a fraction of the precipitation that they did last winter.
“After a blockbuster snowpack winter for 2016-2017, California is once again in a snow drought,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell said.
“There are growing worries for [the] water supply picture, especially in California, but even over more of the Southwest,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Jim Andrews said.
There is still time for more snow to build up on the mountains before the water year in California comes to an end on April 1, but that time is quickly running out.
“Every drop of water saved and every suspected leak fixed will help secure our water supply,” the website says.

There were still weeks to go in the wet season and the reservoirs were full, thanks to last winter’s near record-breaking rain and snow.
“The outlook isn’t good,” said David Rizzardo, chief of snow surveys with the Department of Water Resources.
Sacramento has seen 7.8 inches of rainfall – 50 percent of average.
Jerry Brown declared an end to the five-year drought last April, but most climatologists and forecasters say drought-like conditions have returned.
“We’re in a ‘little D’ drought, or at the beginning of a ‘little D’ drought,” said Michelle Mead of the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
What’s preventing a “big D” drought – where dramatic conservation measures are ordered?
It’s partly the state’s reservoirs, most of which are at their historic averages because of last winter’s record rains.
Notably, Sacramento allows just one day a week of outdoor watering in winter.
Related stories from Sacramento Bee Sierra Nevada snow picture brightens, but is still just a fraction of normal Specter of drought looms as California’s weather turns dry again Why millions of dead trees in the Sierra may have helped save water during the drought Hanak said she expects some communities to impose other water-reducing measures and “do some belt-tightening” this summer.
“One real concern of climate change is just this constant back and forth on the extremes.

As California suffers through another dry winter, increasing fears that drought conditions may be returning, the state’s residents are dropping conservation habits that were developed during the last drought and steadily increasing their water use with each passing month.
But in each of those eight months last year, the water savings dropped from 20 percent in May to 2.8 percent in an unseasonably dry December.
Many eased, or dropped entirely, their mandatory water restrictions, rebate programs and other incentives to conserve, because they wanted to make more money by selling more water, and in part because it was difficult to convince their customers of the urgency when the state had just seen its wettest winter in 20 years.
By December, the most recent month for which the State Water Resources Control Board has data, statewide water use was only down 2.8 percent, compared with December 2013, the baseline year that state water regulators use for monthly water conservation reports.
That happened after the 1976-77 drought, the 1987-92 drought and the 2007-2009 drought.
That year, in the most stark depths of the drought, snow levels ended at 5 percent of normal on April 1, an all-time record low that led Brown that day to travel to a grassy meadow at Echo Summit near Lake Tahoe that should have been under five feet of snow and declare the first statewide mandatory water restrictions in California history, with a target of reducing urban water use by 25 percent — a goal the state nearly met.
Ever since Brown declared the drought over, some parts of California have conserved more than others.
Cities around the Bay Area saved 15.5 percent, and cities on in the South Coast region, mostly Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange County, saved the least, 11.7 percent.
The city continues to offer $125 rebates for people who buy low-flush toilets, along with paying $2 per square foot for people who remove lawns.
“All the programs are still in place.

Lake Powell, which straddles Utah and Arizona, is expected to get 47 percent of its average inflow because of scant snow in the mountains that feed the Colorado River, said Greg Smith, a hydrologist with the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
It was the seventh-worst forecast for Lake Powell in 54 years.
Powell, along with Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border, helps ensure the Colorado River system has enough water to get through dry years.
Normal allotment threatened Lackluster runoff into Lake Powell this spring is not likely to have an immediate impact on water users because most reservoirs upriver from Powell filled up after last winter’s healthy snowfall, said Marlon Duke, a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages Powell, Mead and other reservoirs.
Along the Green River, a Colorado River tributary in Wyoming, the snowpack is 110 percent of average.
Along the San Juan River in southwestern Colorado and northwestern New Mexico, it’s 32 percent of average.
One reason is a strong winter weather pattern steering big storms away from the Southwestern United States and sending them north, said Russ Schumacher, Colorado’s state climatologist and an associate professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University.
Another reason is exceptionally warm temperatures across much of the Southwest, he said.
Lake Powell, the second-largest, is at 56 percent.
Some climate scientists say global warming is already shrinking the river.