Need Water?

Based on data provided by the U.S. Drought Monitor, a collaboration between academic and government organizations, 24/7 Wall St. identified large U.S. urban areas that have been under persistent, serious drought over the first seven months of this year. 

The Drought Monitor measures drought by five levels of intensity: from D0, described as abnormally dry, to D4, described as exceptional drought. For the first time in the Drought Monitor’s history, 100% of California is under at least severe drought conditions, or D2. It was also the first time exceptional drought of any kind — the highest level — has been recorded in the state.

Unlike last year, when the large urban areas with the worst drought were either in Colorado, Texas or New Mexico, this year they are all in California. Further, while last year exceptional drought covered no more than 72% of any of the urban areas with the worst drought, this year exceptional drought covers at least 75% of all the urban areas on our list.

Brad Rippey, a meteorologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), explained that nearly all of the state’s rain falls “from late autumn into the spring, so once you get past April, California is pretty much locked in with drought.” While drought in the state tends to be seasonal, the situation this year is far from normal.

California Governor Jerry Brown declared a statewide drought emergency in January, and conditions have not been this dry since the mid to late 1970s. Mark Svoboda, climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and author of the Drought Monitor, described the state’s multiyear dry spell as a “once in a generation type of drought,” and one of the three worst droughts in over a century.

While the level of drought this year is alarming, it has not come as a surprise. Atmospheric pressure over the Northeastern Pacific Ocean has remained persistently high the past several years, preventing winter storms from reaching California. The infamous “Ridiculously Resilient Ridge” — a pressure region in the Pacific Ocean — has acted as an “invisible dome that just doesn’t let moisture come into California,” Svoboda said. This has led to “two consecutive winters of very low snowpack, higher temperatures, and early melts.”  Read more: