California Drought Spreading

Image: US Drought Monitor

The US Drought Monitor is reporting that 58% of California is now affected by a the crippling drought, and that it is spreading at an unprecedented rate.

The agency has five levels of alert, with ‘exceptional drought’ the current level in California, listed as the most serious.

The LA Times reports:

This is the first year that any part of California has seen that level of drought, let alone more than half of it, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center, which issued the report.

“You keep beating the record, which are still all from this year,” he said.

The entire state has been in severe drought since May, but more of it has since fallen into more severe categories — “extreme” and “exceptional.” Nearly 22% more of California was added into the exceptional drought category in the last week alone.

California is also more than a year’s worth of water short in its reservoirs and moisture in the state’s topsoil and subsoil has nearly been depleted, according to the report.

“It’s hard because the drought is not over and you’re in the dry season. Our eyes are already on next winter,” Svoboda said. “Outside of some freakish atmospheric conditions, reservoir levels are going to continue to go down. You’re a good one to two years behind the eight ball.”

California is also more than a year’s worth of water short in its reservoirs and moisture in the state’s topsoil and subsoil has nearly been depleted, according to the report.

“It’s hard because the drought is not over and you’re in the dry season. Our eyes are already on next winter,” Svoboda said. “Outside of some freakish atmospheric conditions, reservoir levels are going to continue to go down. You’re a good one to two years behind the eight ball.”

The drought is now in it’s third year and shows no sign of abating. To add to the problems Californians face the state’s water regulators have established new regulations that allow them to levy fines of up to $500 against those using water wastefully, while Gov. Jerry Brown has tried to drastically lower the state’s overall consumption of water. At the same time some people are being fined for not keeping their ever-shriveling lawns neat and green.

Michael Korte and Laura Whitney, who live near Los Angeles in Glendora, said on Thursday they received a letter from the city warning they had 60 days to green up their partially brown lawn or pay a fine ranging from $100 to $500.

“I don’t think it’s right for us to start pouring water into our lawn in the middle of July during a drought,” said Whitney. “We’re kind of in a quandary about what to do.”

The letter, bearing the official symbols of Glendora and its police department, came the same week that statewide water regulators passed emergency drought restrictions for outdoor water use. Those regulations, to take effect this August, require cities to demand cutbacks in water use, and empower them to fine residents up to $500 for over watering their lawns. (source)

California produces much of the fresh produced consumed in the United States, as well as topping the export market in some soft fruits and almonds. With farmers letting fields lie fallow some produce will be in much shorter supply than usual, and it’s likely that food prices will start rising before the end of the year.