The Southwest May Be Deep Into a Climate-Changed Mega-Drought
Global warming may have turned an already historic dry spell into the third-worst drought of the past 1,000 years.
Every so often, the American West seems to lurch into something called a “mega-drought.” The rains falter, the rivers wither, and the forests become tinder boxes waiting for a spark. Mega-droughts are notoriously hard to study—the last one happened in the 16th century—but what we do know is worrisome. In the 1540s, a few wet years in the middle of a mega-drought may have triggered one of the worst disease epidemics ever recorded.
According to research unveiled last week, mega-droughts may no longer be history. On Thursday, a team of climate scientists argued that the American
