Long term drought impacts continued to decrease through the month of February, as a series of strong atmospheric river storms brought very wet conditions. This continued the wet pattern which began in the Fall, especially for the northern Sierra. The northern Sierra had the second wettest February on record (8 Station Index). At the end of February, Lake Shasta was 114% of normal, Lake Oroville was 110%, Folsom Lake was 74%, and Don Pedro was 139%. New Melones Reservoir improved and began to catch up the other significant area reservoirs, at 107% of normal.
The U.S. Drought Monitor showed significant improvement over the area, with all areas of drought and abnormally dry removed and all of interior Northern California, in the 'None' category by the end of February.
Groundwater aquifers continued to recharge more slowly than the surface reservoirs, though the DWR Water Data Library showed signs of improvement in some areas.
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, San Joaquin, Shasta, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. Plumas County no longer had a Local Emergency Proclamation. 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) continued to have local emergency proclamations . 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 25.1 percent in February, more than double the 11.9 percent savings in February 2016, when state-mandated conservation targets were in place.
The threat of dead or dying trees continued, with on-going tree-removal programs at the state and federal level.
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.

Drought in NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA
From 01-FEB-17 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-17 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: State Official

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were some homes without well water due to dry wells. In February there were 314 in Stanislaus County, unchanged since January. There were 8 in San Joaquin County, unchanged from January. Many rural communities in the Northern San Joaquin Valley were still receiving food assistance as a direct result of the drought.

Drought in MOTHERLODE/CAMPTONVILLE TO GROVELAND, CALIFORNIA
From 01-FEB-17 00:00:00 to 28-FEB-17 23:59:00 (PST-8)
Property damage: 0.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: State Official

The Household Water Supply Shortage Reporting System indicated there were homes without well water due to dry wells. In February there were 240 dry wells in Tuolumne County. Emergency drinking water projects helped communities address diminished groundwater supplies.