--- title: California: Mudslides, Wildfires, Droughts and More. Why? description: First it's droughts, then wildfires, then mudslides. But despite how it seems, the coast isn't really cursed canonical: https://time.com/3082304/california-wildfires-mudslides/ author: Michael Lemonick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-05T18:34:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:58:00.520Z article:section: Science og:title: WTF, California? Why Are You Such a Mess? og:description: First it's droughts, then wildfires, then mudslides. But despite how it seems, the coast isn't really cursed og:url: https://time.com/3082304/california-wildfires-mudslides/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5de5e6f5d7d0de0/69869e6a13c79f5a57193574/california-wildfire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4096 og:image:height: 2304 og:image:alt: Just another day: A wildfire in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park, Calif. on July 27, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WTF, California? Why Are You Such a Mess? twitter:description: First it's droughts, then wildfires, then mudslides. But despite how it seems, the coast isn't really cursed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta5de5e6f5d7d0de0/69869e6a13c79f5a57193574/california-wildfire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # California Catastrophes: Why is the Golden State Always a Mess? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=151a7ad7-cd02-449b-81c3-262965347b33&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: California's Crippling Drought Gets Worse [Watch (HLS stream): California's Crippling Drought Gets Worse](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cSr2GAKn.m3u8) (1:26)  _Published 2014-08-03_ by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) ## Michael Lemonick Aug 5, 2014 6:34 PM UTC California is the state of emergency by [Michael Lemonick](https://time.com/author/michael-d-lemonick/) ## Michael Lemonick Aug 5, 2014 6:34 PM UTC California is [burning](http://lightbox.time.com/2014/08/04/photos-of-wildfires/). In [several places](http://time.com/3051294/wildfire-el-portal-yosemite/). Of course, this is news, especially since lives and property are at risk—but in a sense, it isn’t news at all. California burns every year at around this time. California is also [sliding downhill](http://time.com/3078770/1-dead-thousands-stranded-in-s-california-storm-mudslides/). That isn’t really a headline either, since mudslides are annual events too, as a result of torrential rains in the non-burning part of the state. So far this year the slides have caused one death. California’s Central Valley, meanwhile, is [dangerously parched](http://time.com/2990069/california-drought-regulations/), as a drought that’s already lasted three years shows no signs of letting up. The only hope for desperate farmers is that a long-awaited El Niño weather pattern kicks in later in the year, bringing heavy rains (at which point, see above under “mudslides”). And then there’s the [next major earthquake](http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1858700,00.html), which is sure to come sooner or later—probably sooner given California’s luck. In fact, it almost seems as though the state is a disaster magnet. That, however, is something of an illusion. Much of the American West is more or less starved for rainfall, with the exception of the immediate Pacific Coast. It’s hardly a surprise that the region as a whole suffers from periodic droughts; all it takes is a ridge of heat and high pressure to park itself off the Pacific coast and most rainfall will veer northward into Canada before dipping bock down into the inland U.S. The dried-out forests and grasslands that result are then ready fuel for fires caused by lightning or human carelessness. When rains do start, steep hillsides that have been logged or burned or overdeveloped are prone to mudslides. These are [by no means problems unique to California](http://time.com/65422/washington-mudslide-dead/). But the state is so huge, and the population so large, that natural disasters there simply affect more people than they do elsewhere in the U.S. Still, for those of us watching from the other side of the continent, it sometimes seems like you’d have to be a little bit crazy to live in California. But then you consider Mt. Whitney or Yosemite Valley or the Coast Range or the redwood forests—never mind the southern California warmth and the Pacific Ocean as your swimming pool. So maybe it’s not entirely crazy to live in California. What _is_ entirely crazy is the need to push the envelope—to build houses on hillsides and in forests which may be the most gorgeous locations in the nation’s most gorgeous state, but which are often the most dangerous in terms of natural hazards. If you lived on an airport runway and got hit by a plane, it would be a tragedy—but an entirely predictable and preventable one. We’re not immune to this sort of craziness out East: we keep putting houses on beaches, for example, when we know perfectly well that they could [wash away](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,965180,00.html) with the next storm. Once you get away from the shore, though, you’re relatively safe. On this last point, the East may have the edge: Move inland in California, and you could end up next to an [active volcano](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,926300,00.html). ## Transcript [00:00] Where I'm standing is a powerful symbol of California's [00:03] crippling doubt. This is Lake Mendocino in northern [00:06] California. And it's pretty much dried up. Normally you'd [00:09] see people out in the water, using their boats but right now, [00:12] it's just pretty much a desert. The [00:17] lack of rain has pushed nearly 80 % of the state into either [00:20] extreme or exceptional drought categories; those are the [00:23] highest levels. And most of the major reservoirs, the water [00:26] that sustains so many communities throughout the state, [00:29] those are less than half full. It's so dry that thieves are [00:32] actually stealing water. A father and daughter living off a [00:35] water tank in the central valley say they've been ripped off. [00:38] Eight times. It's horrible. We go without showering. We [00:41] can't flush our toilets. We can't wash our hands. At Hearts [00:44] Castle a popular attraction for tourists, they had to drain the [00:48] reflective Neptune pool early. The sparkling blue water has [00:51] given way to a skateboarder's fantasy. The drought also [00:54] having an impact on food prices. Meat and produce rising [00:57] as much as 6 % according to the USDA. Fast food chains [01:01] like Chipotle and In & Out burger have raised their prices. [01:05] We're also seeing a new phenomenon with so called [01:07] drought busters. People coming through communities [01:09] looking for water wasters, leaky sprinklers, things of that [01:13] nature. And public parks, some cities are no longer [01:15] watering the grass, and you can see brown patches in [01:18] places like Santa Barbara along the waterfront. Its been a [01:21] very long summer and there's just no end in sight for this [01:25] drought. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3082304/california-wildfires-mudslides/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3082304/california-wildfires-mudslides/"},"headline":"California Catastrophes: Why is the Golden State Always a Mess?","datePublished":"2014-08-05T18:34:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T08:58:00.520Z","description":"First it's droughts, then wildfires, then mudslides. 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