California is struggling with its worst drought since records began 119 years ago.
Its Governor, Jerry Brown, has called a state of emergency in the face of 90% of the state suffering severe drought.
The weather in the most populous state of the US remained dry and warm even when a polar vortex plunged the rest of the country into arctic conditions.
Meteorologists fear that a “giant fire year” will result. One climatologist dubbed the state “as dry as a box of popcorn in the desert”.
Livestock and agriculture are under great stress as water supplies have dried up. Hundreds of thousands of prime farmland acres may have to remain unplanted this year.
A knock-on effect is likely, as California produces nearly half of the fruit and veg for the rest of the country.
The state’s population has almost doubled since the 1970s, going from 20 million to 38 million, putting great pressure on water resources even without a drought.
The Sierra Nevada snow pack, from which much of the state’s water ultimately originates, is now 17% lower than normal for January.
Residents have been ordered to reduce their water use.
Dried up lakes have revealed at least one previously submerged Gold Rush town.
Without snow, most of the numerous skiing resorts have closed or resorted to investing millions in snow-making machines.
Meteorologists have blamed the drought on a massive zone of high pressure off the Pacific coast which has been stopping storms hitting California for more than a year, pushing them north towards Canada.
