California’s drought conditions are expected to persist or intensify through warm winter months, forecasters predict.
In its U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook posted Thursday, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said about 60 percent of California remains in "exceptional drought" conditions and at this point, that isn’t expected to change through January 2015.
Drought improvement occurred in the projections for Arizona and New Mexico, while it intensified for Oklahoma and Texas.
Parts of California may see some improvement during the winter months, including southern and coastal northern areas.
“The potential for slow drought recovery exists later in the winter and early spring for the Sierras with snowfall a critical factor,” the NOAA said. “Drought development is expected across interior parts of the Pacific Northwest where a dry signal during El Niño winters exists.”
California has been in a drought emergency since January, NBC said, and the state has plans to spend about one-third of its $687 million emergency drought relief package.
The severe drought in California has impacted numerous crops and other businesses in the state.
Southern California Public Radio reported that the arid temperatures are even affecting Halloween because pumpkins being grown in the state are considerably smaller than they usually are.
“California’s drought is bad news for beef-lovers, beer-lovers, sushi-lovers and, when you get right down to it, anyone who loves anything that relies on agriculture — the state produces nearly half of U.S. grown fruits, nuts and vegetables, which in turn demand a full
80 percent of its dwindling water supply,” Salon reported.