The long term drought continued through August with little change. Without a snow pack for late spring/early summer, reservoirs across the area by the end of the month were continuing to drop well below normal levels. All major reservoirs across the state were less that 40% of capacity by the end of the month. Folsom Lake was down to 20% of capacity, approaching near-record low levels for August, seen last in 1977.
Extreme drought continued to be detected by the U.S. Drought Monitor across most the region, with exceptional drought for the northern San Joaquin Valley, the central and southern Sacramento Valley, the Burney Basin and the Sierra.
The continued dry weather and periods of hot temperatures left vegetation parched and ready to burn. Wildfire activity was well above normal levels.
Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California January 17, 2014 and this continued to be in effect.
Local Emergency Proclamations have been issued for El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Plumas, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sutter, Tuolumne, and Yuba counties. The cities of Live Oak Lodi, and Ripon continue in a drought emergency. Drought task forces have been established in Butte, Lake, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tuolumne, and Yolo counties to coordinate response to the drought.
Mandatory water reductions of 25 percent as ordered by Governor Brown continue to be in effect statewide, the first time such mandatory restrictions have been enacted. Actual usage across California dropped an average of 27 percent.
Agriculture has been heavily impacted, with numerous farm and farm related jobs lost. The UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences released a new report indicating that California’s ongoing drought will impact the state’s agricultural economy this year by an estimated $2.7 billion and eliminate more than 21,000 jobs. The state continued to supply food assistance to those impacted, along with California Disaster Assistance Act money for those who have lost drinking water due to dry wells. Approximately 743,642 boxes of food were distributed to 391,003 households in affected communities that suffered high levels of unemployment from the drought
Low runoff in streams and rivers on fish and ecological continues to cause adverse affects on forests and wildlife, including the endangered Delta Smelt and winter run Chinook Salmon.