RENO, Nevada -- From the brittle hillsides of Southern California to the drying fields of Idaho, from Montana to New Mexico, a relentless drought is worsening across most of the West, water supplies are dwindling and the threat of wildfires is rising.

"Most of the West is headed into six years of drought, and some areas are looking at seven years of drought," said Rick Ochoa, weather program manager of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

Arizona is facing its worst drought on record. Two enormous reservoirs on the Colorado River are only half full. Some farmers in southern Idaho might not get any irrigation water this summer, and irrigators in western Nevada are threatening war with a country club that wants green grass for a national golf tournament.

[COMMENT: It is outrageous, whether in Nevada or Florida or wherever, to allow golf-course watering at a million gallons per golf course per day when they are shortages of water of this magnitude. Golfers will just have to learn to tolerate playing golf on brown golf courses, for God's sake! The "beauty" of a golf course is about the least important priority of life. R.]

The mountain snowpack, a crucial reservoir that in a good year holds water until it's needed, was half of the normal March level or less in many areas.

"We had one of the warmest Marches on record ... and we didn't get any precipitation almost anywhere in the West," said Kelly Redmond, regional climatologist for the Desert Research Institute's Western Regional Climate Center in Reno. "So not only did we not add to our supply in March, which is usually a very healthy month, but the temperature was so warm that the melting started early."

The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service says there's a potential for water restrictions and widespread crop and pasture losses in central Nevada, southern Idaho, most of south-central Montana and eastern and south-western Utah. Most of southern Idaho and parts of southwest Montana are in "exceptional drought", the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. That's a step worse than "extreme drought", which the department says describes parts of Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Colorado.

With dry trees raising the risk of wildfires, it's not just farmers who will be hurting. Already this year, 10,000 acres have burned in Arizona, along with 8,500 acres in Colorado. "In terms of fire, I think everybody is real nervous," said Chris West, vice-president of the American Forest Resource Council in Portland, Oregon.

The National Interagency Fire Center identified three areas with the greatest fire risks -- Southern California; the Four Corners region of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and southern Utah; and the Intermountain region of Idaho and western Montana. In contrast, some parts of the West -- western Oregon, Washington and Northern California -- have near normal snowpack.

California's overall water supply situation is "not great, but it's OK", said Frank Gehrke of the California Department of Water Resources. But, Southern California "is not doing particularly well".