Here is a NY Times article that sums up the big problem California is facing now. 80% of the state is desert and 80% of the state is in a severe drought. The economic consequences for California will be severe with water rationing, wild fires, crop failures and so forth. It could also be part of a two-fisted knockout blow with the radiation plume coming from Japan.
Onward, Marswhall
Severe Drought Has U.S. West Fearing Worst
LOS ANGELES — The punishing drought that has swept California is now threatening the state’s drinking water supply.
With no sign of rain, 17 rural communities providing water to 40,000 people are in danger of running out within 60 to 120 days.
“We are on track for having the worst drought in 500 years,” said B. Lynn Ingram, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Berkeley.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/us/severe-drought-has-us-west-fearing-worst.html?_r=0