California Gov. Brown Declares Drought Emergency Amid Broken Heat Records And Low Reservoirs

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/18/3182581/california-extreme-drought-emergency/

By Ryan Koronowski on January 18, 2014

On Friday, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in the Golden State, asking residents to cut back water use by 20 percent.

“We’re facing perhaps the worst drought that California has ever seen since records began being kept about a hundred years ago,” Brown said. “Hopefully it will rain eventually but in the meantime we have to do our part… make it easier to transfer water from one part of the state to the other so that farmers, particularly those with permanent crops can keep them alive.”

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Though much of the rest of the country has been dealing with colder temperatures and the effects of the polar vortex, California has been breaking heat records in January. San Francisco Airport had its hottest January day on record on Wednesday. On top of the record heat, the state has also had to deal with its driest year in history in 2013. This could impact the entire country — California is America’s agricultural leader, and the important sector uses 77 percent of the state’s water.

The U.S. Drought Monitor reported on Thursday that 98.57 percent of California was “abnormally dry,” and 62.71 percent was in “extreme drought.” That number is by far the highest ever recorded since the inception of the drought monitor in 2000 — two weeks ago the extreme drought percentage was at just 27 percent.