California Drought Worsens

EXTREME CLIMATIC EVENT
STATE OF EMERGENCY
WORSENING DROUGHT
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The Exceptional Drought Expands

The area covered by Exceptional Drought (D4) in California has expanded by about 12 percent since last week, from 8.77 percent to 9.81 percent of the land.

California is currently experiencing its worst drought on record. In 2013 California experienced its driest year since records began 120 years ago.

California Drought Comparison Map for January 28 and February 4, 2014. Source: U.S. Drought Monitor.

California Drought

Drought persists across California. US  Drought Monitor has downgraded Humboldt and Trinity Counties drought conditions from degradation severe to extreme drought (D2 to D3). Areas near Monterey to Bakersfield have been downgraded from extreme to exceptional drought (D3 to D4).  Some 8 inches of snow reported on the ground at the Central Sierra Snow Lab near the Donner Summit reports, the lowest for this since at least 1946. Source: NOAA/NWS/NCEP/CPC.

State of Emergency

Governor Brown proclaimed a State of Emergency on January 27  amid the worsening statewide drought.  He called the “really serious,” adding that 2014 could be California’s third consecutive dry year. “In many ways it’s a mega-drought.”

57 California Counties Declared Crop Disaster Areas

All but one of the 58 counties in the state of California have been declared Crop Disaster Areas due to Extreme Drought conditions.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 57 counties in the state of California as crop disaster areas due to the worsening drought, since the beginning of the year.

Crop Disaster Map CY-2014  dated January 29, 2014. Source: USDA/FSA

Imperial County, located Southeast of California in the Imperial Valley, bordering both Arizona and Mexico, is currently covered by D0-D1 drought conditions, but has not yet been designated as a drought disaster area.

California State Resources

• Electronic snowpack readings –  http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/snowapp/sweq.action
• Electronic reservoir readings – http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cdecapp/resapp/getResGraphsMain.action
• Water Conditions – http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/
• California Drought Page – http://www.water.ca.gov/waterconditions/drought/

Related Links

• COLLAPSE OF CALIFORNIA LOOMS February 2, 2014
• California Drought Could Paralyze the U.S.  February 2, 2014
• California Drops State Water Allocation to Zero  February 1, 2014
• California Drought Intensifies January 30, 2014
• California Communities Could Run Out of Water in 60 to 120 Days January 29, 2014
• Drought Disaster Declared for Multiple Counties in Four States January 25, 2014
• California Declares Drought State of Emergency January 18, 2014
• California Governor to Declare Drought Emergency January 17, 2014
• High Fire Danger in Southern California amid Driest Conditions on Record January 17, 2014
• 520 Counties across 16 States Declared Crop Disaster Areas due to Drought January 16, 2014

FIRE-EARTH 2009 Forecast: Desertification of California in the Near Future Is Almost a Certainty

[NOTE: The above forecast and most of the links posted below have previously been filtered by Google, WordPress and others. Editor ]

• California: Biggest Desert in N America August 16, 2009
• Warning: California Is Being Mojavefied!
• Can’t have your water and eat the fish, too!
• Alaska: One Fire Away From Exporting Charcoal
• Calif Drought: Schwarzenegger declares a state of emergency
• Images of the Day: California Drought & Folsom Lake
• Desertification
• California ‘Mojavefied’ by 2011?
• Land degradation threatens 1.5 billion people
• Topsoil
• First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

• Schwarzenegger Proclaims Water Emergency in Nine Counties
• Drought
• A Few Extreme Events Away
• Image of the Day: Southern Spain
• Schwarzenegger Proclaims Water Emergency in Nine Counties