All of California is in a historic drought, and images taken from a NASA satellite show the dramatic decrease in the state's water storage since 2002.
The three images were taken in April 2002, June 2008 and June 2014. Orange and red colors represent greater water loss.
California's Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins, which includes the Central Valley, have suffered the most significant losses, in part due to increased groundwater pumping to support agriculture.
Between 2011 and 2014, these river basins have lost 4 trillion gallons of water each year.
It's also much more than California's 38 million residents use in cities and homes annually.
As of Thursday, 100% of the state of California was in a drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. More than 58% is in 'exceptional' drought, the worst level. Record warmth has fueled the drought as the state sees its hottest year since records began in 1895, according to data from the National Climatic Data Center.
Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a statewide drought emergency earlier this year. Since then, reservoir storage levels have continued to fall, and as of Thursday, they were down to about 52% of the historical average.
Regulations restricting outdoor water use were put in place in late July for the entire state. People aren't allowed to hose down driveways or sidewalks, nor are they allowed to water lawns and landscapes (if there is excess runoff). There are reports of wells running dry in central California.
About 1,000 more wildfires than usual have charred the state, including some unusual ones in the spring.
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Entities 0 Name: California Count: 5 1 Name: Central Valley Count: 1 2 Name: Calif. Count: 1 3 Name: Jerry Brown Count: 1 4 Name: San Joaquin River Count: 1 5 Name: Sacramento Count: 1 6 Name: U.S. Count: 1 7 Name: National Climatic Data Center Count: 1 8 Name: NASA Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1pNApE1 Title: NASA Satellites Put California Drought Into Shocking Perspective Description: Newly released images created from NASA satellite data illustrate the staggering effect the California drought has had on groundwater supply in the state. The images show the amount of water lost over the past 12 years, with different colors indicating severity over time.
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