Thread by @Sustainable2050

Boat docks in Folsom Lake, California. In @trouw today.

Background:

This from 100 miles (160 km) to the north, in Northern California:

53% of the area of these 9 western states is in extreme or even exceptional drought now.

74% of California is in extreme or exceptional drought at the moment.

The Governor of Utah is already on the case though.

62% of Utah is in exceptional drought, and another 28% is in extreme drought. The lucky few in the North of the state experience severe drought (8%) and moderate drought (2%).

Unfortunately, Governor Cox's party is not known for its vigorous pursuit of climate action.

Still no divine intervention in the forecast, unfortunately.

On the wildfire risk in this extreme drought:

This chart from the article puts the current drought in the western US in perspective.

Here's a northern California reservoir, Lake Oroville. It almost completely missed its spring refill. Water level is now already down to the end-of-year low of recent years, and it clearly won't be able to deliver its normal amounts of water this summer.

Lake Mead, largest reservoir in the western US, drops to its lowest level since it was filling up in 1938:
bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-…

.. and the rate at which Lake Mead's water level is plummeting suggests it's going to get much lower still. Another 0.14 foot (4.3 cm) lost in a day.

For the hydropower generated from the Hoover Dam, already 25% below its normal capacity, this means losing another 1 MW each day: cnn.com/2021/06/08/wea…

This year's western US drought in perspective: @nytimes compares it with early June drought in the past 20 years. It's bad.
Via @ElizKolbert

How Severe Is the Western Drought? See For Yourself. nyti.ms/3pFavdC

.. and the western US drought got worse again last week. 75% of these 9 states is now in the worst three categories:
20% in severe drought
28% in extreme drought
27% in exceptional drought
droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/Sta…

And this is what those drought categories mean in practice.
D2 = severe
D3 = extreme
D4 = exceptional

The recent development of the drought was particularly bad in California:

Wildfires already raging in Utah, and weather forecast doesn't look good.

And the forecast for Phoenix, Arizona, looks even worse: ten days 43-48⁰C, that's 109-118F, and hardly any clouds.
h/t @snowline

Two major wildfires raging east of Phoenix.

Working in the field at 46-49⁰C: not healthy. (Why can't this be done at dawn or dusk, or even at night, asks this layman?)

Wildfires already ragging in Montana, way up north.