Some long term drought impacts continued through the month of October, although an unusually wet series of storms brought some improvement, especially to the northern Sierra. At the end of October, Lake Shasta was 103%, Lake Oroville was 73%, Folsom Lake was 71%, and Don Pedro was 101%. New Melones continued to lag behind the other significant area reservoirs and was only 38% of normal.
The U.S. Drought Monitor showed enough improvement to reduce drought levels from D1 Moderate Drought to D0 Abnormally Dry for the northern Sierra and the northern Sacramento Valley. Shasta County was removed from drought conditions. There was moderate drought across the central Sacramento Valley and northern Coastal Range with the southern Sacramento Valley remaining in severe drought. The northern portion of the San Joaquin Valley mountain areas remained in extreme drought, as well as portions of the Sierra south of Highway 50.
Groundwater aquifers continued to recharge more slowly than the surface reservoirs.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California January 17, 2014 and this continued to be in effect. Governor Brown issued an executive order on May 9, 2016 that built on temporary statewide emergency water restrictions to establish longer-term water conservation measures, including permanent monthly water use reporting, new permanent water use standards in California communities and banned clearly wasteful practices such as hosing off sidewalks, driveways and other hardscapes.
Local Emergency proclamations remain for Colusa, Calaveras, El Dorado, Glenn, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. The cities of Live Oak (Sutter County), Lodi (San Joaquin County), Manteca (San Joaquin County), Portola (Plumas County), Ripon (San Joaquin County), and West Sacramento (Yolo County). Drought task forces remain in Lake, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tuolumne, and Yolo counties to coordinate response to the drought.
The State Water Resources Control Board announced that urban Californians��� monthly water conservation was 19.5 percent in October, up from 18.3 percent in September and a bit below the 22.3 percent savings in October 2015, when state-mandated conservation targets were in place. The State Water Board stressed the need for continued conservation despite early rains in Northern California.
The state continued to supply food assistance to those impacted by the drought, along with California Disaster Assistance Act money for those who have lost drinking water due to dry wells. Nonprofit organizations in the San Joaquin Valley struggled to meet the needs of their clients for drought-related programs.
Tree mortality from drought and resulting bark beetle infestation continued to increase both in scale and intensity, especially in low elevation pine and oak woodlands along the Sierra Nevada Range. A US Forest Service- Forest Health Protection aerial survey showed tree mortality was especially high in the Stanislaus National Forest southward, though pockets of tree mortality were present as far north as eastern Shasta County. Estimated tree mortality from the recent years of drought was increased to 102 million trees across California. This increase in dead and dying trees makes the forest more susceptible to wildfires.

Drought in MOTHERLODE/CAMPTONVILLE TO GROVELAND, CALIFORNIA
From 01-OCT-16 00:00:00 to 31-OCT-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: State Official

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells. Tuolumne County had 240 households and Calaveras County had 1 household, unchanged from September.

Drought in NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-OCT-16 00:00:00 to 31-OCT-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: State Official

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells. There were 228 in Stanislaus County, 11 in San Joaqun County,  unchanged since September.
Harvesting of crops such as almonds have been reported to be smaller than usual due to the drought.  Many rural communities in the Northern San Joaquin Valley were also still receiving food assistance as a direct result of the drought.

Drought in SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-OCT-16 00:00:00 to 31-OCT-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: State Official

Crops yields from the annual harvest were anticipated to be smaller than usual for the year due to the drought, including crops such as almonds. There were revenue losses and higher water costs expected.  About 5 percent of farmland was reported to be left fallow.
Especially hard hit was rice, with one-fourth of California's rice fields going fallow in 2016, according to the California Rice Commission.

Drought in NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-OCT-16 00:00:00 to 31-OCT-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: State Official

Crops yields from the annual harvest were anticipated to be smaller than usual for the year due to the drought, including crops such as almonds. There were revenue losses and higher water costs expected.  About 5 percent of farmland was reported to be left fallow.