How Bad is California's Drought?

One thing contributing to the wildfires in San Diego County is California's persistent drought.

This map shows the entire state of California is in dire need of water.

Radley Horton, a climate scientist at Columbia University, helped us understand just how bad conditions are on "New Day" Friday.

Horton told CNN's Michaela Pereira the dark red area is experiencing the most severe drought, impacting about 25 percent of the prime land that's used for agriculture.

"It's competition for water in an area that could be short on water, even in a good year," he said.

WATER SHORTAGES: 

In this graph, you can see the rainfall this year vs. normal levels of rainfall in major California cities.

This graph shows the decreased amount of rainfall dating back from July 1, 2013.

Horton explained California's last rainy season had about half the normal amount of rainfall throughout California.

"We had about three straight dry years," Horton said.

"Put it all together and we have major water shortage issues."

SNOW COVER: 

Here you can see the difference in the snowpack, basically California's water reserve, from 2013 – 2014.

Horton said the comparison above shows how desperate the situation looks this year.

He said the snow cover becomes is the reservoir for the state as the rainy season ends.

"Right now there's maybe a fifth the amount of water you'd normally expect in the snowpack for this time of year," he said.

And higher temperatures are only adding to the problem.

"As temperatures go up, that snowpack tends to get smaller."

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