Daniel Swain in Vallejo Times-Herald: California Drought ‘Pretty Likely’ by Summer as New Report Shows State Growing more dry

Following another week without rain — and none forecast through the end of this month across Northern California — the federal government on Thursday announced that unusually dry conditions are expanding across a wider swath of California’s landscape, increasing concerns about summer fire risk and the possible return of at least a modest drought this year.  “Given what we’ve seen so far this year and the forecast for the next few weeks, I do think it’s pretty likely we’ll end up in some degree of drought by this summer,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA.