That California drought emergency we told you about yesterday is official now. Governor Jerry Brown officially declared it this morning in San Francisco. "We ought to be ready for a long, continued, persistent effort to restrain our water use," says Brown. If it's yellow, let it mellow, etc.

Here's some terrible news to mark the beginning of permanent fire season in California: It's going to stay like this, hot and dry, until May. The Climate Prediction Center says winter will come and go without the usual winter storms that provide the snowpack that provides all the water people use. Fire conditions will be awful until summer, when they will continue being awful until next winter, if winter ever shows up again.