California is in the middle of its fifth year in drought. Experts say it has been the worst drought the state has seen in 1,200 years.
Dwindling reservoirs, shrinking lakes, and dried-up farm fields dot the state's landscape — and despite some recent signs of recovery, the overall outlook is still ominously dry.
But California is far from the only state that's being affected. Across the country's western and southeastern states, reservoirs remain below their capacity and, more importantly, below their historical average. According to the most recent analysis by the Southeast Regional Climate Center, nearly 40% of the American Southeast is currently plagued by moderate to exceptional drought.
These images, taken by the NASA Landsat 8 satellite and collected by the online lake reference site Lakepedia, show what 10 reservoirs in the Southeast looked like last year ("before") and what each reservoir looked like in the same month of 2016 ("after").
DON'T MISS: 20 photos show what California's drought-stricken reservoirs look like now compared with a decade ago
Lake Wylie: Before (November 2015)
Lake Wylie: After (November 2016)
Lake Wylie, a human-made lake that straddles North and South Carolina, provides hydro-electric power to the states via Duke Energy. The reservoir's levels have been declining rapidly since early October, forcing the closure of several boat ramps that provide access to the lake for recreation.
"Just the last two weeks alone, we're probably down 50% to 60%," Adam Fillmore with Hunt, Fish, Paddle in Lake Wylie, told local news station WBTV in November.
Sources: Duke Energy, Lakepedia, WBTV
Weiss Lake: Before
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