California's rainfall last year was the lowest since 1877, it hasn’t rained yet this "rainy season," fire watch started in January, and there's almost no Sierra snowpack to melt. There's a drought emergency in this giant agricultural state.
Drought conditions from last year in the U.S. are likely to continue. Commentator Robert Glennon says that spells trouble for the nation's groundwater supply.
Water laws in the West often give priority to whose who used a water source first, often farmers. Farmers in New Mexico are fighting to regain their place at the head of the line.
Losses from hurricanes, tornadoes, drought and other severe weather events totaled more than any other year besides 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina.