January’s heavy rains are erasing years of extreme drought in many areas of California, when it comes to the state’s surface supplies of water. The same can’t be said yet for the state’s groundwater basins. More than 30 counties in northern California are now considered to be drought-free according to the latest survey by the U.S. Drought Monitor. The southern half of the state still has a ways to go, but in all cases, the status is much improved over even just last week.