Newsom Expands Drought State of Emergency
Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a drought state of emergency in 39 additional California counties, bringing the total number of counties affected by the emergency to 41. Newsom originally declared a regional drought emergency in Sonoma and Mendocino counties in April. However, he was prompted to expand the emergency to additional counties after hot temperatures and extremely dry soils—both hallmarks of climate change in the Golden State—ate into the snowpack and expected runoff from the Sierra Nevadas. (Snowpack itself was already low this year after a subpar winter wet season.)
As a result, Newsom’s office stated, major reservoirs, including those along the Klamath River, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and Tulare Lake watershed, experienced “historic and unanticipated reductions in the amount of water flowing.”
