I knew things were bad in California, but I didn’t realize how bad. From the Times:

With no sign of rain, 17 rural communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days. State officials said that the number was likely to rise in the months ahead after the State Water Project, the main municipal water distribution system, announced on Friday that it did not have enough water to supplement the dwindling supplies of local agencies that provide water to an additional 25 million people. It is first time the project has turned off its spigot in its 54-year history.

More:

“We are on track for having the worst drought in 500 years,” said B. Lynn Ingram, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.

Considering how much of the nation’s food comes from California, and how much California’s agricultural economy matters to the overall US economy, it’s not just Californians who will suffer from this. But they will suffer the worst. California readers, what are your thoughts? How are you coping? What are your plans?

I also didn’t realize until seeing the NASA map that my own state was still in drought, parts of it severe — especially in coastal parishes.