The top-9 cities are also currently tops in the nation.
Pulling data from the US Drought Monitor, the collaborative project that tracks droughts across the country, 24/7 Wall St. aggregated data for large urban areas across the nation.
It found 9 California cities with substantial populations beat out all others. The Drought Monitor classifies drought on a five-level scale of intensity. D0, called “Abnormally Dry,” is where it begins as map areas are colored a bright shade of yellow. Colors then turn increasingly redder, ultimately reaching the ominous burgundy of D4, “Exceptional Drought.”
- Currently, over 46% of the state carries the D4 rating.
- 94% of the state falls within the monitor’s D2-D4 ratings.
The top-9 urban areas are as follows:
9. Bakersfield, CA
8. Sacramento, CA
7. Chico, CA
6. Lancaster-Palmdale, CA
5. Yuba City, CA
4. Fresno, CA
3. Modesto, CA
2. Merced, CA
1. Hanford, CA
For the complete report detailing each cities' situation, see here.
Image Credit: Flickr User wwworks, https://flic.kr/p/64b2Ej via (CC BY 2.0)