Many Colorado reservoirs could see some recovery, but the system's two largest reservoirs, lakes Mead and Powell, still face grim prospects.

In the face of a drier future, that iconic piece of Americana is on its way out in Southern California.

A California reservoir is overspilling for the first time in decades following heavy rainfall. Lake Cachuma, a reservoir in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, was 99.7 percent full on February 8. The lake was less than a third full two months ago.

California has seen so much rain over the past few weeks that farm fields are inundated and normally dry creeks and drainage ditches have become torrents of water racing toward the ocean. Yet, most of the state remains in severe drought.

Just months after enduring floods that destroyed crops and submerged entire communities, thousands of families in the Brazilian Amazon are now dealing with severe drought that, at least in some areas, is the worst in decades. The low level of the Amazon River, at the center of the largest drainage system in the world, has put dozens of municipalities under alert.

The Mississippi River is flowing at its lowest level in at least a decade, and until rain relieves a worsening drought in the region, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to maintain water levels high enough to carry critical exports from the nation’s bread basket.

In a remote cave in northeast India, rainwater has slowly dripped from the ceiling in the same spots for over 1,000 years. With each drop, minerals in the water accumulate on the floor below, slowly growing into calcium carbonate towers known as stalagmites. These stalagmites are more than geological wonders – like tree rings, their layers record the region’s rainfall history. They also carry a warning about the potential for catastrophic multiyear droughts in the future.

It is impossible to miss all the headlines talking about the water crisis happening (and worsening) in the American Southwest. So what can be done? One big step: banning water-sucking along trees.

After more than 70 days of extreme temperatures and low rainfall, China has seen its worst drought on record. Southern China has recorded its longest period of drought since records began, 60 years ago.

Judges said the winner was “a really lousy lawn that lives up to all our expectations of Gotland’s ugliest lawn”

Extended heat and low rainfall across Europe are causing major rivers to dry up. This is having serious consequences for wildlife, the economy and the people living near the Rhine, Po, Thames and other affected rivers.

Extreme drought and inflationary pressures are forcing US farmers in Western states to sell off their cattle herds in greater numbers, at levels not seen in over a decade.

Despite the efforts of more than 2,000 firefighters to contain the blaze, the fire, which began in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, was 0 percent contained Sunday, fire officials conceded.

Continuing a 22-year downward trend, water levels in Lake Mead stand at their lowest since April 1937, when the reservoir was still being filled for the first time. As of July 18, 2022, Lake Mead was filled to just 27 percent of capacity.

Lloyd Arthur can run his hand through the soil at his cotton farm and know what kind of year he’s going to have. His dry, cracked field is making him think this could be a repeat of one of the state’s worst years. “We can’t outfox what Mother Nature sends us,” said Arthur, whose farm is about 30 miles outside of Lubbock. “2022 has been one for the record books.

Leave it to the Westerners to come up with solutions to their problems by causing problems for others. Las Vegas resident Bill Nichols' June 22 suggestion of diverting Mississippi River water to the Southwest to help solve the Southwest's drought problem is nothing more than a plan to steal, under federal-government oversight at taxpayers' expense, water that belongs to the Midwest.

Water restrictions began Wednesday for 6 million residents in Southern California, as the state enters its third year of severe drought and what water officials say is the state's driest year on record. Residents and businesses must limit their outdoor watering to one or two days per week or to a set volume of water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California announced.

Federal officials have a sobering forecast for the Colorado River Basin: Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir which serves millions of people in the Southwest, will likely drop another 12 feet by this fall. It’s far below what the outlooks were predicting as of last year.

The droughts that swept across the western US in 2021 sparked wildfires and damaged crops. But the historic lack of water also had an impact on one of California’s key sources of renewable energy: hydropower.

Californians reduced their water use at home by a meager 1.8% statewide in July compared to last year, even after Gov. Gavin Newsom urged residents to conserve 15% and drought continues to spread across the state. Officials today warned water providers south of the Delta who rely on state water allocations — already slashed to 5% this year — to brace for the possibility of zero supply next year.