Before and after photos show recovery at drought-stricken California reservoir

Recent downpours in critically drought-stricken California have helped to replenish reservoirs — but scientists caution people to not get the wrong impression from images of areas with seemingly abundant amounts of water.

A series of damaging winter storms from December 2022 into January provided some sorely needed resources for farmers, wildlife, and residents — who have faced among the lowest precipitation and lake levels since the 1970s.  But it’s unlikely to reverse the region’s decades-long decline in water reserves that supplement surface sources used for irrigation and other purposes, according to NASA. 

“The abundant water is expected to recharge the groundwater in the next few months, as we have seen during similar events in 2011 and 2017,” said Pang-Wei Liu, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “However, if the climate pattern is the same as before — dry and hot in summer followed by low precipitation — and the water demands are still high, then we expect the groundwater drawdown will continue.”