Human-caused climate change has made this year’s summer that much hotter and drier than the previous ones. While droughts are prevalent in California, water is evaporated more quickly from the reservoirs in California. State officials are predicting the water level in Lake Oroville in the U.S. state of California will reach a record low as summer approaches.
Every year, California’s Lake Oroville, the mighty lake, which is a linchpin in a system of aqueducts and reservoirs in the arid U.S. West that makes California possible, helps water a quarter of the U.S.’ crops, sustains endangered salmon and many other endangered fish species, and anchors the tourism economy there.
But, the water level in the reservoir is shrinking with shocking speed amid a severe drought. So menacing is the drought that state officials are asking Californians to batten down the hatches, as they predict the water levels in reservoirs there will reach a record low later this summer.
The North Complex Fire that devastated the Plumas National Forest in Northern California, with 318,935 acres of land burned, was one of the deadliest wildfires on record. Smoke and ash billowed high into the air from the fire caused by lightning strikes, which went so out of control it literally chewed up the forest, as dry banks rose above water in Lake Oroville after the massive wildfire.
This year’s summer is much hotter and drier than the previous ones. The drought could possibly wreak havoc on one of California’s primary water supplies, and the sparse Sierra Nevada snowpack. The water levels in the state’s some 1,500 reservoirs are 50 percent lower than they should be this time of year, according to the co-director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis.
Water is used to run hydroelectric power plants for Californians too.
Imagine drought happening right under your nose. The impacts of dwindling amounts of water in the state’s reservoirs can be so threatening: Not only will Californians have to scramble to search for water, but the nation’s food supply will also be affected. Equally disturbing is the endangered animals’ lives being threatened. Salmon need cold water from the bottom of the reservoirs to spawn. That’s why California state officials are asking Californians to batten down the hatches, should the drought wreak havoc on the state’s primary water supply.
Last year was the third driest year on record in term of precipitation. Temperatures hit triple digits in much of California over the Memorial Day weekend.
State officials are also worrying about power outages, as an extreme heat wave last year led to power outages, and power supply remained patchy days after the heat wave hit.
Notwithstanding the fact that droughts are a part of life in California, the world will have to step up efforts to avert drought crises around the world.
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