parch

The rivers, in parts, are now completely dry and resemble a parched desert.

A sudden shutoff of water supplies has dried up the Kern River in Bakersfield, leaving thousands of dead fish on the parched riverbed.

The fire raced up into the mountains and was fueled by brush that had been fed by two consecutive wet winters, and then parched by the Earth’s hottest summer on record.

Even as a moist blanket of air in the marine layer thickens, rising to 4,500 feet by Sunday, conditions above that remain parched.

Oregon, Idaho and Washington are also dealing with hundreds of fires resulting from multiple weeks of dry lightning strikes on parched vegetation.