A picture is worth a thousand words. And pictures that include statistics could fill an entire novel.
Nearly the entire Bay Area has entered the "exceptional" drought category — with a heat advisory issued for much of the region starting Memorial Day. Suffice to say now’s the time to curb your power usage and conserve water whenever you can. (Hold off watering your lawns; unplug unnecessary devices from outlets; embrace all things LED; flush sparingly, take shorter showers.)
If you need a louder call-to-action as to why you should mitigate your utility use, the National Weather Service (NWS) has put together this handy, "sobering," spine-chilling infographic to showcase just how bad the current drought is, especially when compared to this time last year.
A sobering look at how dry the west is compared to a year ago with the #DroughtMonitor. #cawx pic.twitter.com/f2LqUuOQMp
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) May 29, 2021
The weather agency tweeted a side-by-side comparison of the present drought conditions against last year’s parched conditions over the weekend. Mind you: 2020 saw historic wildfires ravage the West... and this year’s drought conditions are significantly worse than those that fueled last year’s apocalyptic infernos.
“A sobering look at how dry the west is compared to a year ago,” reads the demoralizing tweet.
One quick glance of the comparison shows “exceptional drought” conditions — also described as “D4” levels of drought severity — wrap almost the entire Bay Area and much of Wine Country. By contrast, not a single part of either region was categorized in such a way last year; both the Bay Area and Wine Country were considered to be in “severe drought” conditions last year.
Due to hazardous temperatures a Heat Advisory has been issued for Monday May 31st from noon through 9 PM PDT.
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) May 28, 2021
Make sure you find ways to beat the heat and stay hydrated!#CAwx pic.twitter.com/u6Ju3E3Bp1
So, yes: Heed your water and electricity use as much as humanly possible over these next few weeks and months. Let’s try our best to thwart a repeat of orange skies and hellacious air quality readings this fire season.
Related: Marin Becomes First Bay Area County to Announce Drought Water-Use Restrictions
Newsom Declares Drought Emergency In Sonoma and Mendocino Counties
San Francisco Water Use Has Declined Since Last Drought — What Else Can You Do to Conserve?
Image: Twitter/@NWSBayArea
