Aren t his alone. take a look at this u.s. drought monitor map. the darker the color, the worse the drought. atkin s ranch lies deep within that crimson red. we have about 200 reservoirs and every one of them is dry right now. like dry? nothing. we don t have a drop in any one of them, and we ve never done that in 85 years, never once. reporter: his operation is in the colorado river basin, which is primarily fed by melting snowpack from the western rocky mountains. the river then winds down to the gulf of california, supplying water to seven states along the way. but the basin is now in its 22nd year of drought. this is clearly evident further down river at the end of the nevada/arizona border where the river flows into lake mead, the largest reservoir in the nation, which 25 million people depend on for water. has it ever been this low before? it hasn t, not since filling in 1937. so we are anticipating the lower basin to be in the first ever
And i ve got to talk about this. another storm system developing east of the rockies. not a bomb cyclone but this one is going to exacerbate the flood problem that is ongoing across the mississippi river valley p it s going to bring more rainfall. compound it across the melting snowpack in place across the region and the deep frozen ground underneath, there s nowhere for this water to run. that s why we have an enormous flood threat into the mississippi river region. the flood threat extends into michigan as well. that is going to continue through the course of todayride right through the end of the week and unfortunately there s a lot of signs the flood potential could impact the nation s heartland right through the month of may. all right. derek, thank you. so when it comes to thank yous, they re nice to get, nice to have. but sometimes there s just no way. hallmark has a very limited offering of thank you for the
Average american, are consuming more than 300 gallons of california water each week by eating the food that is produced here. these kinds of crops, kinds of stuff like almonds which you ve got, cantaloupes, they this is the climate they need. they don t want rain. right. they don t like rain during their season. they are take like the people in california. we like the sun all summer long. we like it warm and the crops are the same way. we want the rain in the winter. we want it in the mountains 400 miles away. that s where they capture is and bring it to us. these crops, because they re not going to get any rain, they need water so we irrigate them. reporter: where does the water come from to produce this food? much of it comes from here, the sierra nevada mountains where every spring the melting snowpack replenishes the state s crucial reservoirs. right now that snowpack is at historic lows. that means the state s reservoirs are in trouble. i m standing in front of peter s c
Is used for agriculture. and that means that you, the average american, are consuming more than 300 gallons of california water each week by eating the food that is produced here. these kinds of crops, kinds of stuff like almonds which you ve got, cantaloupes, they this is the climate they need. they don t want rain. right. they don t like rain during their season. they are take like the people in california. we like the sun all summer long. we like it warm and the crops are the same way. we want the rain in the winter. we want it in the mountains 400 miles away. that s where they capture is and bring it to us. these crops, because they re not going to get any rain, they need water so we irrigate them. reporter: where does the water come from to produce this food? much of it comes from here, the sierra nevada mountains where every spring the melting snowpack replenishes the state s crucial reservoirs. right now that snowpack is at historic lows. that means the state s reservoir
80% of water used in california is used for agriculture. and that means that you, the average american, are consuming more than 300 gallons of california water each week by eating the food that is produced here. these kinds of crops, kinds of stuff like almonds which you ve got, cantaloupes, they this is the climate they need. they don t want rain. right. they don t like rain during their season. they are take like the people in california. we like the sun all summer long. we like it warm and the crops are the same way. we want the rain in the winter. we want it in the mountains 400 miles away. that s where they capture is and bring it to us. these crops, because they re not going to get any rain, they need water so we irrigate them. reporter: where does the water come from to produce this food? much of it comes from here, the sierra nevada mountains where every spring the melting snowpack replenishes the state s crucial reservoirs. right now that snowpack is at