Drought expected to persist in much of the Western US through 2022 and beyond, according to NOAA report. The need for water in the West will continue unless emissions are curbed.
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The thirst for water in the Western U.S. will likely not be quenched in the near future.
Drought conditions are expected to persist in the West, which is already amid a decades-long megadrought, through 2022 and beyond, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's drought outlook. The drought will remain the worst from California to the Northern Plains, according to the report.
Precipitation totals in the Southwest over the 20 months from January 2020 and August 2021 are the lowest on record since at least 1895, according to the report. The 2021 to 2022 winter season is forecast to be drier than average.
The megadrought that's plaguing much of the West is a direct consequence of climate change, experts have told ABC News.
The new NOAA report did not outright blame warming temperatures across the globe for the regional drought, but stated the drought is occurring due to "successive seasons of below average precipitation that appear to have come from natural, but unfavorable, variables in the atmosphere."
NOAA scientists did concede that continued greenhouse gas emissions will exacerbate drought conditions in the Southwest and that "increasing atmospheric demand for water" will only end if human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.
READ further from the source above
Drought conditions are expected to persist in the West, which is already amid a decades-long megadrought, through 2022 and beyond, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's drought outlook. The drought will remain the worst from California to the Northern Plains, according to the report.
Precipitation totals in the Southwest over the 20 months from January 2020 and August 2021 are the lowest on record since at least 1895, according to the report. The 2021 to 2022 winter season is forecast to be drier than average.
The megadrought that's plaguing much of the West is a direct consequence of climate change, experts have told ABC News.
The new NOAA report did not outright blame warming temperatures across the globe for the regional drought, but stated the drought is occurring due to "successive seasons of below average precipitation that appear to have come from natural, but unfavorable, variables in the atmosphere."
NOAA scientists did concede that continued greenhouse gas emissions will exacerbate drought conditions in the Southwest and that "increasing atmospheric demand for water" will only end if human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are reduced.
READ further from the source above
Keywords
USA
drought
greenhouse gases