When you lose thunderstorms (as we have) you lose nitrogen.
We’ve lost our thunderstorms.
Rain occurs when the water vapor has something in the air to attach to. I submit that the unintended consequences (maybe its intended knowing the demons in D.C.) of obsessive clean air guidelines is to strip the air of any particles so that it rains less. The answer is for California to return to fouling the air, stirring up dust and burning down forests so that it will rain again over the South West
And for Oregon and Washington to fire up the chainsaws and get that dust going up as catalyst for upper air moisture.
Seriously, our plants in our land here are talking to us... it’s like herbicular gridlock, nothing producing. I almost think the plantosphere expected this drought earlier, and went into dormant mode.