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Currently in Boston — January 13th, 2023

By Dave Epstein —

The weather, currently.

Becoming very warm overnight

Showers will continue overnight with temperatures rising into the 50s by morning. Temperatures will remain in the 50s Friday, though showers will end. Winds will be gusty, but should remain under levels to produce anything but an isolated power outage. It will be clear Saturday with temperatures only near 40°F. This is seasonable for the time of year. We will have to watch out for a storm system out in the ocean on Sunday. If this moves west, there could be accumulating snow over Southeastern Massachusetts. The track of this will ultimately determine whether it's just clouds or will become a significant snowmaker for that part of the region.

—Dave Epstein

What you need to know, currently.

All the parts of the Great Valley of California are no longer facing Extreme Drought — the second-highest level of drought —  like they were just two weeks ago, before the heavy rainfall.

Extreme drought in the state fell from 27.1 percent last week to 0.32 percent, according to the data released by the U.S. Drought Monitor Thursday. Severe drought, the third-highest level, fell from 71 percent to 46 percent.

A portion of California remains in a state of Severe Drought.

The state averaged 8.61 inches of precipitation since Dec. 26, while the San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area averaged 13.34 inches. In fact, from Jan. 9 to Jan. 10, California saw the 3rd wettest one-day period since 2005, by grid total precipitation, according to the National Weather Service’s Prediction Center.

The extreme influx of this rain was contained to west of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, therefore doing little to refill the water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs in the nation.

It’s important to note that while this latest rain did indeed improve drought conditions these last 16 days, it did not get rid of it completely.

—Aarohi Sheth

What you can do, currently.