Los Angeles officials, including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, urged residents to cut water consumption by 10 percent as Southern California gets baked by its driest year on record.

A combination of a third of the average rainfall in L.A. since last July, low snow levels in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and drought along the Colorado River is causing dry conditions across the region, according to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Adding to the arid mix are weather forecasters’ predictions of a summer of record-high temperatures. Mayor Villaraigosa is concerned a “perfect storm” is brewing that could spell disaster for Southern California residents.

The mayor’s call for conservation is the first water-reduction goal the city has issued in more than a decade. Mandatory water rationing is also a possibility for residents, something that hasn’t occurred since 1991.

Timothy Brick, chairman of the water district, said it was the first time in the water district’s history that “there are critical dry weather conditions occurring concurrently in our service area of Southern California as well as in the watersheds for our Colorado River and State Water Project water supplies.”

Southern California imports half its water from the Colorado River and rivers in northern parts of the state. Due to a late-developing La Niña, climatologists fear another dry winter, which would negatively affect the water supply in the Colorado River Basin.

Although these dry conditions are unprecedented, they certainly weren’t unpredicted. The Golden State has been ravished by natural disasters and drought conditions more than ever before. God blesses and curses nations because of their actions. These weather conditions beg the question: Is California cursed?