The federal government keeps a “Drought Monitor” for every state. Thursday, California’s water problems became so bad that the entire state was categorized as having “severe drought” — or worse. Portions of the state had worse designations of “extreme drought” or “exceptional drought.” A year ago, the comparable numbers were only 46.25 for the state, which shows how terrible its plight has become.

The Drought Monitor reports that the problems in the nation’s largest state by population could actually get worse. Concerns have turned toward a heat wave that could make access to water even more difficult. The effects of this problem are already present as wild fires spread and the agricultural belt of the state’s inland agriculture area has turned desperate.

The worst of the wild fires is currently burning in parts of San Diego County. At least 5,000 homes in the area have been evacuated, and one person has been killed. Temperatures in the region are above 100 degrees. For the time being, these are not expected to drop much, and there is no hope for rain.

In Central California, many farmers cannot grow products at all. A recent report from the National Agricultural Statistics Services showed that planned planting of corn, wheat and cotton will drop sharply in California this year.

Describing the problem in January, the service reported:

California’s drought worsened, despite some late-month rain and snow. For much of the month, the West, particularly California, endured warm, dry conditions. As a result, California, the Great Basin, and parts of the Southwest faced nearly insurmountable odds of overcoming huge season-to-date precipitation deficits by the end of winter—and the likelihood of completing a third consecutive dry winter. In addition to California’s impending water-supply issues, drought impacts included poor rangeland conditions, severe stress on rain-fed winter grains, and depleted soil moisture reserves

That forecast has come true. And the state’s agency that tracks the availability of water to alleviate drought has issued its own pessimistic report. On May 1, the management of the California Department of Water Resources wrote:

Today’s final snow survey of the year found more bare ground than snow as California faces another long, hot summer after a near-record dry winter. Today’s manual and electronic readings recorded the statewide snowpack’s water content — which normally provides about a third of the water for California’s farms and cities — at a mere — 18 percent of average for the date. Just as telling was the April 1 survey that found water content at only 32 percent of average at the time of year it normally is at its peak before it begins to melt into streams and reservoirs with warming weather.

Simply put, the “Drought Map” is likely to get worse.

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