California should expect a ‘fourth dry year’ as drought persists through Christmas – and a third one could be ‘unlikely’
This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
Please enable Javascript to watch this video
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) –
The dry weather in Northern California is expected to keep the drought going for another two-to-three months and as much as six months — possibly longer. That means more potential evictions in the Bay Area and some of life-altering effects.
California Governor Jerry Brown has declared a fourth drought state of emergency. He’s been talking about how the drought will have serious impacts on the state’s economy.
“At some point, this dry spell may put a dent in our overall production and the economy of California, but not right now,” Brown said. “This is not a drill.”
Officials expect the drought to last well into the fall, the longest stretch of drought since state records began. San Francisco is still on a water rationing watch because the reservoirs are at 75 percent capacity, just under the statewide goal. And there’s a major drought declaration today for Sonoma County. About 2.4 million square miles in California, or nearly half the state’s land mass, is in some stage of drought.
At the same time, the national drought is still going on.
As with the Bay Area, officials say the drought across California is not a problem on its own.
“Our state, our region, is a part of the United States. It has huge water needs that we are going to have to address, and they’re going to have to deal with this, too,” San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Ignacio de la Fuente said.
The dry weather is making it hard to find people to move into state parks, including the Giant Sequoia and the state’s largest zoo, the