The extreme drought that’s hit California may have been a surprise to some hydrologists, after just two years of precipitation levels that were below-normal and were nothing drastic. But new satellite imagery reveals the dramatic impact on the North State’s two major reservoirs. Shasta Dam is at just 40-percent capacity, compared to 71-percent about a year ago. Storage dropped from 88-percent of the historical average, at around this time in 2020, to 49-percent. And Tim Kennelly, Assistant Division Chief with the State Water Project, says Oroville Dam is at only 41-percent of capacity, down from 63-percent, with storage plummeting to 34-percent of normal, after it was 77-percent just a year ago…

click to listen to Tim Kennelly

Meanwhile, water lines on the banks of Lake Oroville have depleted so rapidly that the reservoir’s hydroelectric power may have to shut down for the first time ever…

click to listen to Tim Kennelly

That would strain an already encumbered power grid during the hottest part of the summer.