BIRMINGHAM — Alabama finally has emerged from a two-year drought after a wet December.

A federal assessment released Thursday showed that none of the state is considered to be in a drought anymore. That’s a huge improvement from this time last year, when drought conditions covered almost 80 percent of the state.

Despite the improvement, the U.S. Drought Monitor said about 23 percent of the state, including Chilton County, remains abnormally dry. That area runs roughly along Interstate 20/59 from west-central Alabama to northeast Alabama.

The only parts of the South that remain in a drought are northeast Georgia and the western tips of the Carolinas. Nearly 80 percent of the region was in a drought this time last year.