Climate: West May Be in Permanent Drought by 2060s

By Garry Rogers @Garry_Rogers

GarryRogers:

So. . . , we get catastrophic floods, but the drought continues–great.

Originally posted on Summit County Citizens Voice:

Is western drought the new climate normal?

New study quantifies global warming effect on California drought

Staff Report

FRISCO — Researchers say there’s new evidence that global warming will push the western U.S. into the driest conditions in at least the past 1,000 years, as higher temperatures exacerbate drought condition in the region.

The new study by scientists with Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and Cornell University focused on the current California drought, showing that warmer temps drive moisture from plants and soil into the air. Warmer temps likely worsened the California drought by 25 percent, the scientists concluded in their paper, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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