Holly Bailey

The Dry Land: Photos of California’s Drought by Matt Black (via The New Yorker)

An unprecedented 82 percent of California is in an “extreme drought,” according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report released last week. Of that, 58 percent of the state is in an “exceptional drought” — the driest conditions possible — an increase of more than 20 percent in a single week. Record-low rainfall has sent rivers, lakes and water reservoirs to their lowest levels in decades — threatening the water supply of many cities. The unusually dry conditions have increased the risk of wildfires, which have already ravaged parts of the state — most recently an area near Yosemite National Park.

But the drought’s biggest victim could be California’s Central Valley, the source of fully half the nation’s fruits and vegetables, where panicked farmers are taking extraordinary steps to survive a drought that could drive them out of business. In Kern County, one farmer recently drilled five new wells at 2,500-feet deep apiece — twice the height of the Empire State Building — in a desperate attempt to tap into new water sources below….

In some ways, the lack of urgency isn’t surprising. A drought does not have the immediacy or frenzied excitement of tornadoes, hurricanes or other natural disasters. But a prolonged lack of rain has the potential to be every bit as destructive, if not more so, as devastating storms. In many ways, a drought is a disaster in slow motion, with an impact so gradual that the true scope of its devastation often goes undetected until it’s too late.

“What is happening right now has the potential to be our Hurricane Katrina or our Hurricane Sandy or the wildfire that destroys everything. It’s just going to take a lot longer to unfold,” Stevenson said.

My latest: A modern-day Dust Bowl: As a drought unfolds slowly and devastatingly, California farmers feel desperate and abandoned (via Yahoo News)

latimes:

California has broken a drought record this year, but it’s not the first time the state has been parched. Here’s a look at some drought photos from years past.

Top photo: An Edison worker surveys Catalina Island’s Thompson Reservoir on May 26, 177. Credit: Joe Kennedy / Los Angeles Times. Bottom photo: A Hereford gazes over a hill toward the bleached bones of a steer on grazing land near Cima, Calif., on April 18, 1963. Credit: Ben Olender / Los Angeles Times

(via latimes)