US Drought Monitor Archives

‘Double-Edged Sword’: Why the Badly Needed Rains in California Could Fuel Catastrophic Fires

February 13, 2023/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Guardianby Gabrielle Canon

Deep underneath the sodden soils and the berms of snow that now coat California, fuels for fire are waiting to sprout. Grasses and other quick-growing vegetation, spurred by the downpours that saturated the state at the start of the year, quickly turn to kindling as the weather warms.

“When that rain comes – and it came last month – that results in significant fuel load increases,” said Isaac Sanchez, a CalFire battalion chief.

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Storms Dumped Snow on California. Will It Bring a Reprieve From the Drought?

January 27, 2023/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The Guardianby Gabrielle Canon

Extreme weather hammered California through the first weeks of the year – but also offered a badly needed reprieve. The deep snow dumped on the Sierra Nevada during a series of strong storms left the state with a robust water savings account of sorts.

As the weather warms over the spring and summer months, the melting snow fills rivers, streams and reservoirs long after California’s rainy season has ended. Considered one of its most important reservoirs, the snowpack provides roughly a third of California’s water supply.

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California Water Officials Tell Communities To Prepare For Potential Water Shortages

March 25, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /CBS Sacramentoby Anna Giles

An extra dry summer with potential for water shortages – that’s what state and federal officials are telling Californians to prepare for.

Predictions for 2021 are bleak. Lake levels are low and the Sacramento region is not getting the spring showers many hoped for.

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Make it Rain: US States Embrace ‘Cloud Seeding’ to Try to Conquer Drought

March 23, 2021/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Chelsea Campos /The Guardianby Oliver Milman

With three-quarters of the US west gripped by a seemingly ceaseless drought, several states are increasingly embracing a drastic intervention – the modification of the weather to spur more rainfall. The latest reports from the US Drought Monitor have provided sobering reading, with 40% of the US west of the continental divide classed as being in “exceptional drought”, the most severe of four levels of drought.

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