Doug Boyle is Nevada's Acting State Climatologist. On Insight with Beth Ruyak today, he pointed out that both Nevada and California are served by the same storm track.
"Over the last three years the storm track has primarily been pushed to the north due to the persistent high pressure. We don't exactly know why that's happening but it seems to be a dominant part of our current climate system."
As a result of that high pressure system, this marks the third-straight year of below normal precipitation.
Northern Nevada's largest water source is the snow pack from the Sierra Nevada, which is currently about 20% of normal.
Boyle says so far there have been no adverse impacts to Nevada's municipal water supply systems...
"But we are seeing quite a bit of significant impacts to the agriculture, wildfire and wildlife."
Alfalfa is Nevada's largest crop. In 2012, the state produced more than a million tons, worth about $200 million.
Meanwhile, the Nevada Department of Public Safety announced today that the Small Business Administration is now accepting applications for their Economic Injury Disaster Loan program for small, nonfarm businesses impacted by the drought.
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