Long term drought continued through the month of February. After a relatively wet January, a period of extremely dry and warm conditions returned for most of February. This prevented the snow pack for the northern Sierra and southern Cascades from growing much, and actually decreased it in some locations by the end of the month, down to around 90% of normal, 85% for the whole state. Reservoirs across the area continued to increase but generally remained below normal levels. Folsom Lake was an exception to this, rising to 111% by the end of February. The Department of Water Resources increased water delivery projections to 30% of requests, up from a 15% estimate in late January. However, the dry conditions through the month prevented a larger anticipated increase.
Extreme drought continued to be detected by the U.S. Drought Monitor across most the region, with exceptional drought for the northern San Joaquin Valley, the central and southern Sacramento Valley, the Burney Basin and the Sierra. A small portion of the northwest forecast area in the Coast Range was downgraded from extreme to severe drought by the end of the month.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California January 17, 2014 and this continued to be in effect. He extended the executive order requiring Californians to continue conserving water through October 2016. At the end of January 2016, the California State Water Control Board approved an eight-month extension of the existing drought-related emergency regulations with just some minor adjustments.
Local Emergency Proclamations have been issued for El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. The cities of Live Oak Lodi, and Ripon continue in a drought emergency. Drought task forces have been established in Butte, Lake, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tuolumne, and Yolo counties to coordinate response to the drought.
Mandatory water reductions of 25 percent as ordered by Governor Brown continued to be in effect statewide, though Californians missed these targeted reductions for the month
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.
A study released in late December by the Carnegie Institution for Science counted as many as 58 million trees statewide suffering severe water loss marked by browning leaves and dying limbs that���s far greater than previously thought. An earlier study by the National Forest Service reported 29 million trees already dead. Repercussions of this are that wildfires are likely to become more destructive, rivers and lakes that are naturally cleaned by forest ecosystems may become degraded, and less carbon dioxide is apt to be soaked up by trees.

Drought in NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-FEB-16 00:00:00 to 01-FEB-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: Drought Monitor

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were still some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 2 in Shasta County, 34 at Tehama County, unchanged from January.

Drought in CENTRAL SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-FEB-16 00:00:00 to 01-FEB-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: Drought Monitor

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 70 in Butte County, 28 in Glenn County, and 8 in Colusa County. This was unchanged from January.

Drought in SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-FEB-16 00:00:00 to 01-FEB-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: Drought Monitor

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 3 in Yolo County, 5 fewer than in January. There was 1 in Sacramento County, unchanged from January.

Drought in CARQUINEZ STRAIT AND DELTA, CALIFORNIA
From 01-FEB-16 00:00:00 to 01-FEB-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: Drought Monitor

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System had 1 home without well water in Solano County, one less from January.

Drought in NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-FEB-16 00:00:00 to 01-FEB-16 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Reported by: Drought Monitor

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells, with 227 in Stanislaus County, 145 more than in January and 25 in San Joaquin County, 3 more than in January.

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

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System had Calavereas county with 1 household and Tuolumne had 235 households. These were unchanged from January.