CA Drought Equivalent to Trillions of Gallons of Water

California needs 11 trillion gallons of water to make up for its three-year drought, according to NASA.

The space agency measures the Earth's changing shape, surface height, and gravity to measure the impact of droughts.

California is getting pummeled with rain this year, but it's just scratching the surface of what's needed.

Also, NASA reported that airborne measuring indicates the Sierra Nevada range snowpack was only half of what they estimated.

"The 2014 snowpack was one of the three lowest on record and the worst since 1977, when California's population was half what it is now," Tom Painter, with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.

"Besides resulting in less snow water, the dramatic reduction in snow extent contributes to warming our climate by allowing the ground to absorb more sunlight. This reduces soil moisture, which makes it harder to get water from the snow into resevoirs once it does start snowing again," he added.
    
NASA says the Sacramento and San Joaquin River basins are down 11 trillion gallons from normal levels. That's about 1.5 times more than the largest resevoir in the United States.