California had its driest January since 1984, with the lack of rain and snow pushing drought conditions across the most populous U.S. state to nearly 100%.
January was the second driest start of the year on records going back to 1895, said Ahira Sanchez-Lugo, a climatologist with the National Centers for Environmental Information.
Last month’s dryness was only surpassed by January 1984. With California’s rainy season starting to wind down, forecasters don’t see any relief to the dryness through the next three months. Drought now grips 99.57% of California, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
“There is not, from a climate perspective, a major change in the drier-than-normal conditions,” Dan Collins, a meteorologist with the U.S. Climate Prediction Center, said in a Thursday call with reporters.
Drought across California and the U.S. West stresses water resources, raises wildfire risks and can lead to hotter temperatures because the sun’s energy can go into heating air and not evaporating soil moisture when the land is parched. California is currently struggling with its worst megadrought in 1,200 years, according to a report published this week by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles, Columbia University and NASA.
California gets most of its annual water in the form of rain and snow from October to April, with almost half coming between December and February. The dry January and lack of precipitation so far this month has lead to discouraging forecasts for California’s prospects.