Click the link to read the article on the Los Angeles Times website (Ian James). Here’s an excerpt:
The mountain snowpack, as measured by snow sensors across the Sierras, now stands at just 38% of the long-term average. State officials stood on bare ground at a snow survey site in the mountains on Friday, saying the paltry snowpack reflects the state’s accelerating water challenges with climate change…
The levels of most of California’s biggest reservoirs, from Shasta Lake to San Luis Reservoir, measure far below average…
Gov. Gavin Newsom this week issued an order for urban water suppliers to implement more aggressive conservation measures, requiring them to activate “Level 2” of their local drought contingency plans to prepare for shortages. Water deliveries have also been cut back for many farming areas in the state this year. Nemeth said those cutbacks are expected to lead to more farmland being left dry and unplanted.
Warmer temperatures brought on by climate change have been making droughts more intense in California and across the West. Scientists have found that the extreme dryness since 2000 in the West, from Montana to northern Mexico, now ranks as the driest 22-year period in at least 1,200 years and has been worsened by the heating of the planet. The past three years have been among California’s driest on record.
