California’s drought declared natural by NOAA

But not all scientists are calling the report limited in perspective.

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[Boreas]

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Jims1973[/url]":adl1c6dx]Can someone explain the timeframe of the photo. How long ago was the water high enough to create the obvious color change at the top of the support pillars?

Looks like that's the Tuolumne river, which is fed out of Don Pedro reservoir, so the height isn't a great indicator of water availability, since it's controlled by how much the dam releases.

The vast majority of urban California's water is routed though so many control systems that observing individual reservoir or stream/river levels isn't terribly informative. A reservoir being full means that it's been pumped full, a stream being low means that water isn't being released.

Not that there are any full reservoirs left at this point. http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/Stat ... or.aspx?CA

It's not a terrible indicator of the present crisis, though: there's simply no water to release. Here are a bunch of before-after photos that better illustrate the depletion.

http://imgarcade.com/1/california-droug ... and-after/