According to a new study examining changes in water availability and soil moisture over the past 12 centuries, the mega-drought that has afflicted the southwestern United States for the past 22 years has since 800 AD. the worst ever.
Research suggesting that the American southwest is facing its worst drought in 1,200 years, pointing to human-induced climate change as the primary cause of the current drought’s severity. The findings were published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
Worst drought in 1200 years hit western US
Over the past decade, California and other western US states have experienced severe water shortages and periodic water use restrictions. The occasional heavy snowfall or rain wasn’t enough to make up for it.
2021 was particularly dry for the American Southwest. As of February 10, 95 percent of the western United States had drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Track. Last summer, two of North America’s largest reservoirs – Lake Mead and Lake Powell – reached their lowest levels recorded in more than a century.
Findings suggest that the current drought is likely to continue for more than a few years. Running the simulations based on soil moisture records dating back 1,200 years, the researchers calculated a 94 percent chance that the drought would extend into 2022. The chance of it lasting until the end of the decade is around 75%.
Tree ring analysis shows that the region from southern Montana west of the Rocky Mountains to northern Mexico was repeatedly affected by mega-droughts between 800 and 1600. Earlier research had found that the 2000-2018 period was probably the second worst drought in 800 years.
2019-2021 data, supported by new climate models submitted to governments last year, revealed that the current drought is worse than in the Middle Ages. The climate change we are experiencing is “more difficult than the mega-droughts of the 1500s, 1200s or 1100s,” said Park Williams, lead author of the study and a climate scientist at the University of California.
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