By Hannah Seo | Published Feb 15, 2022
The record megadrought is straining reservoirs and inflaming wildfires. The Western US and northern Mexico are experiencing severe water shortages. The ongoing drought has depleted aquifers and shrunk reservoirs—and the dryness is exacerbating wildfires. These conditions are extreme: A new study shows that the American West is living through its longest drought in at least 1,200 years. Through an analysis using tree ring data and precipitation records, a trio of researchers were able to determine that the current drought, which began in 2000 and continues to this day, is the driest 22-year period this region has seen since 800 CE. It’s a megadrought—a prolonged drought that exceeds 20 years—and it is likely to continue for at least a 23rd year. In 75 percent of the research team’s simulations, the drought lasts for 30 years. The findings were published on Monday in Nature Climate Change. (Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021) FOLLOW THE SECOMD LINK ABOVE!!)
2019 was a wet year for California, and so it seemed like there was hope for the western drought to come to an end. But in the following two years, the region dried up again. 2021 was the 12th driest year in the entire study period, from 800 to 2021.

The researchers’ analysis also showed that human-caused climate change played a significant role in exacerbating the drought’s severity. Without those human warming factors, the drought’s severity “would have been only about 60 percent of what it was,” Williams told The New York Times.