In an AlterNet article, Scott Thill writes:

According to a study published in Science last year, the Southwest region of the United States will enter permanent drought by 2050, and that's being optimistic. The seven states dependent upon the Colorado River Basin -- Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and California -- will most likely war over what remains of its diminishing water resources. The region's thirsty population will also be beset by rampant firestorms, as portions of the snowpack that remains bypass the liquid stage and evaporate into thin, dry air.

We've already had fires early, thousands of acres burned, houses gutted, people displaced. 8,000 lightning strikes set off approximately 800 fires, some of which still burn and scorch their way across the land. And we're not even in the traditional fire season yet, August and September being the months most dreaded around here.

When I first moved to California, 1968, dry season lightning strikes were so rare as to be newsworthy. Now, more and more, they are coming to be expected. In spite of the (now unusual) "normal" rain last winter, we are in drought conditions and are under water conservation rules here in southern California, in the second-largest city in the United States.

Global warming becomes personal.