News Pix: 49er Fans Prepare for Showdown; and Water Gods, Please Smile On Us

Gov. Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency throughout California on Friday, Jan. 17. His announcement included a call for voluntary statewide reduction in water consumption. "It's important to awaken all Californians to the seriousness of the drought and the lack of rain," the governor said during a brief appearance in San Francisco. "… I am calling for a collaborative effort to restrain our water use." (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)

Many of California's lakes, including Folsom Lake shown here, are dry. There's very little snow in the Sierra, and the American River is running at a trickle of its usual strength. California needs rain. (Dan Brekke/KQED)

Cracked dry ground near Folsom Lake, east of Sacramento. (Dan Brekke/KQED)

The sunlight fades over Folsom Lake, which was at just 19 percent of capacity on Jan. 4, 2014. (Dan Brekke/KQED)

49er fans are showing their team pride this week in the runup to NFC title game. Art Olivares is from Sunnyvale. His first memory of the 49ers was a dark one: losing to Roger Staubach and the Dallas Cowboys and being knocked out of the playoffs. But he expects this season to end differently. "The expectations are the same: They won last year, and they're going to win this year." (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)

Nassime Addi, from San Francisco, was in full 49ers regalia on Wednesday afternoon. His first memory of the team is of them winning the Super Bowl, and he thinks they'll be tasting victory again soon. When it comes to comparing the Seahawks and 49ers, he points straight to the trophy case: "We have five trophies -- they have zero." (Mark Andrew Boyer/KQED)

One of the many notes left in returned books by Oakland library patrons. Librarian Sharon McKellar says she began saving the ephemera she found in books even before she started working at Oakland’s library in 2003. (Courtesy of Oakland Public Library)