Western US May Be Facing a Megadrought

(Worthy News) – A study published in the Science journal last month warns that the Western US may be headed for one of the worst megadroughts in the region for 1200 years, Time reports. Although they had some rain in 2019, Western states have been dealing with an ongoing drought since 2000.

The authors of the study researched a nine-state area including Oregon, Wyoming, California, and New Mexico, Time reports. The scientists used thousands of tree rings to compare the current drought with four megadroughts that have occurred since the year 800.

According to the study, CBS News reports, one megadrought indicator is the drop in water levels seen in the huge Colorado River reservoirs over recent years. The Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs should normally fill up with melting snow each spring. The study’s lead author Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University, said in a statement that the current drought is “bigger than what modern society has seen.”

Time reports that there is a debate among scientists as to whether the current drought can be called a megadrought. Although she was not part of the study, climate scientist Clara Deser of the National Center for Atmospheric Research said a drought should be ongoing for around 30 years before it could be called a megadrought.

Acknowledging the debate, Williams said it was for this reason that the study refers to the current drought as an “emerging” megadrought. “It’s still going on and it’s 21 years long,” Williams said. “This drought looks like one of the worst ones of the last millennium except for the fact that it hasn’t lasted as long.”

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