California is experiencing multi-year dry conditions that began in Water Year 2020 and have triggered state response actions. Links to additional resources are provided below and further background on drought in California is available.

Drought means different things to different water users. Dry conditions turn into drought based on impacts, just as wet conditions may be harmless – until water overtops a levee and inundates a neighborhood or orchard. People and natural systems experience drought differently. Dry conditions can quickly impact ranchers grazing livestock, rural residents relying on private wells, or fish dependent upon small streams. Large urban water agencies with diverse water sources typically can buffer their customers from feeling the effects of multiple dry years.

California Water Watch allows you to see the current hydrologic conditions associated with drought in your local watershed. Local hydrologic conditions help inform state drought response actions, but they are not the only triggering factor for state response. The broader context includes other factors such as water rights administration or special fishery protection measures. Viewers seeking information about applicability of state drought-related regulatory or financial assistance programs to their area should consult drought.ca.gov or the website of the specific program to determine the conditions being used to determine regulatory requirements or eligibility.

• Governor’s Emergency Proclamations for Drought
  Map of counties covered by a current state-level emergency proclamation
• Risk of Drought Impacts

  When precipitation is low for an extended period of time, the risk that people and natural systems will feel an impact increases. The risk also increases when the dry conditions are coupled with above-average temperatures, as has been observed in California’s recent droughts. This map shows where precipitation for the water year to date is below 70 percent of average and temperatures are in the 80th percentile or above (warmer than 80 percent of the recorded temperatures, or unusually hot). Precipitation and temperature represent minimum thresholds of risk applicable to all water uses, whether urban, agricultural, or environmental. Some water users (such as large urban water agencies) can mitigate this risk by relying on surface and groundwater storage and other resources, but multi-year persistence of these conditions will eventually affect most water users and the environment.

  California is transitioning to a warmer climate where extended dry periods are expected to become more common. The historical experience of drought as an occasional occurrence is being replaced by this new normal.

  Hydrologic conditions associated with risk of drought impacts evolve slowly, and impacts may linger after rain and snow returns and hydrologic conditions improve. Groundwater storage, for example, may be slow to recover and trees killed by drought may contribute to wildfire risk in subsequent years.

• Federal Drought Monitor

  The U.S. Drought Monitor is created weekly by the University of Nebraska, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is a subjective blend of information drawn from a variety of sources. USDA uses it to identify agricultural producers’ eligibility for federal financial assistance programs. The U.S. Drought Monitor is not intended to characterize local water supply conditions; its website recommends that “decision makers adopt an operational definition of drought for their own circumstances, incorporating local data such as grazing conditions or streamflow at a nearby gauge.”