California faces one of the most severe droughts on record. Moreover, Sierra Nevada—a snowy mountain range—received the “lowest snowpack ever recorded” and there’s “no end to the drought in sight,” according to the California state website.
Governor Edmund Brown Jr. declared a drought state of emergency and ordered mandatory water consumption cuts of 25 percent, something that hasn’t happened for almost 40 years.
Also, 50 million square feet of lawns will be replaced with drought tolerant landscaping, meaning more mulch, gravel, shrub, and native plants, like succulents.
Still, if you’re not actually in California, it may be hard to imagine what a drought looks like. How does it feel to see the precious liquid dissipate day after day?
Perhaps these pictures can provide an insightful perspective.
The bathtub ring around the reefs at Lake Mead delineates how much higher the water level used to be and creates a definite imagery of the drought’s impact.
Colder weather on the first April weekend in Northern California brought a bit of rain and snow, but not nearly enough.
“Everything helps,” said forecaster Bob Benjamin in Monterey. “But it’s not going to put a major dent in the drought.”
A recent storm dropped nearly a quarter inch of rain in Oakland. A second storm expected to blow in could drop between half inch to over an inch of rain to the Bay Area.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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