Drought in california: if you only look at the palmer z-index for september, 2014 would you say that california was in the midst of a drought? why or why not?

Your answer would be no. When you look at the Palmer z-index, you would see that California is getting some kind of moistness during September of 2014. Since it was having some moistness, it would indicate that it was not in a middle of a drought. It possibly shows that is is beginning to start a drought, but it is not in the midst of a drought. If it was in the midst of a drought, there would be a reduced amount of moistness.