Much of the Western United States is visible in this photograph shot from the International Space Station. (Source: NASA) Severe drought continues in a large portion of the West, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report, issued yesterday. In California, already particularly hard hit by drought, the situation is worsening. Temperatures there were 9 to 12 degrees above normal, which caused breathtakingly rapid melt of the California snowpack. Some areas of the Sierra Nevada lost half of the water locked up in snow in just one week. Yet, there was little change in inflows into the state's starved reservoirs.
Click for an animation of the change in the water content of snow in California's Sierra Nevada. (Source: NOHRSC) With the exception of parts of the Pacific Northwest, and some areas of Wyoming and Colorado, the West overall experienced yet another dry week. Warm temperatures were also the norm. And ...
