Western US Drought, Expected to Persist, Through 2022 and Beyond.
According to an ABC News report, no relief is expected in the near future from an ongoing drought in the Western U.S. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says drought conditions in the United States are expected to persist beyond 2022.
The news comes amid a decades-long megadrought in the western United States.
According to the organization's drought outlook, conditions will continue to be the worst from California to the Northern Plains.
From January 2020 to August 2021, the Southwest's precipitation totals were the lowest on record since at least 1895.
According to the NOAA report, the drought is due to , "successive seasons of below average precipitation that appear to have come from natural, but unfavorable, variables in the atmosphere.".
Continued warming of the U.S Southwest due to greenhouse gas emissions will make even randomly occurring seasons of average- to below-average precipitation a potential drought trigger and intensify droughts beyond what would be expected from rainfall or snowpack deficits alone, NOAA Drought Outlook Report, via ABC News.
Continued warming of the U.S Southwest due to greenhouse gas emissions will make even randomly occurring seasons of average- to below-average precipitation a potential drought trigger and intensify droughts beyond what would be expected from rainfall or snowpack deficits alone, NOAA Drought Outlook Report, via ABC News.
Scientists at NOAA warn that continued greenhouse gas emissions would contribute to worsening drought conditions in the Southwest.
The reports suggests that the , "increasing atmospheric demand for water" , will only end with a global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, La Niña is expected to bring temporary relief to the Pacific Northwest in the coming months