Culture
California's Drought: More Wildfires, Higher Food Prices
A new climate assessment sees more of the same killing heat this year, if not worse.
The American West saw a few rainstorms this past month, but it's been like sprinkling water on a heated cast-iron skillet. Severe drought persists across many states and, looking ahead, the arid conditions will likely remain or grow even worse.
That's the bleak assessment from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, which has released its outlook for this spring. This CPC map shows in brown where forecasters see drought either persisting or intensifying. Areas drawn in tan represent a slight improvement in drought, whereas olive green means great improvement and yellow is where new droughts could develop: