Megadrought

[Pyrrho]

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/we ... 1200-years

The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds.

A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one of the driest years ever recorded for the region — pushed the 22-year drought past the previous record-holder for megadroughts in the late 1500s and shows no signs of easing in the near future, according to a study Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.

[robinson]

California's current drought is being billed as the driest period in the state's recorded rainfall history. But scientists who study the West's long-term climate patterns say the state has been parched for much longer stretches before that 163-year historical period began.

And they worry that the "megadroughts" typical of California's earlier history could come again.

Through studies of tree rings, sediment and other natural evidence, researchers have documented multiple droughts in California that lasted 10 or 20 years in a row during the past 1,000 years -- compared to the mere three-year duration of the current dry spell. The two most severe megadroughts make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look tame: a 240-year-long drought that started in 850 and, 50 years after the conclusion of that one, another that stretched at least 180 years.

https://cwicaliforniadroughts.weebly.com/history.html

[Doctor X]

First.

– J.D.

[Doctor X]

:P

– J.D.

[Pyrrho]

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/image ... la-drought

A severe drought that began in November 2021 has worsened significantly, prompting officials in Portugal to limit the use of five hydroelectric dams for power production and irrigation after some reservoirs reached significant lows.

In Spain, the driest January in 20 years has depleted reservoirs to below 45 percent of their capacity, with Andalusia in the south and Catalonia in the northeast experiencing the worst drought conditions, according to Spain’s State Meteorological Agency.