A new wave of climate research is sounding a stark warning:
Human activity may be driving drought more intensely
– and more directly
– than previously understood.

The southwestern United States has been in a historic #megadrought for much of the past two decades,
with its reservoirs including lakes Mead and Powell dipping to record lows
and legal disputes erupting over rights to use water from the Colorado River.

This drought has been linked to the 👉 "Pacific Decadal Oscillation",
a climate pattern that swings between wet and dry phases every few decades.
Since a phase change in the early 2000s, the region has endured a dry spell of epic proportions.

The PDO was thought to be a natural phenomenon,
governed by unpredictable natural ocean and atmosphere fluctuations.
But new research published in the journal Nature suggests that’s no longer the case.
Working with hundreds of climate model simulations, our team of atmosphere, earth and ocean scientists found that
💥the PDO is now being strongly influenced by human factors and has been since the 1950s.
It should have oscillated to a wetter phase by now -- but instead it has been stuck.
🔥Our results suggest that drought could become the new normal for the region unless human-driven warming is halted
https://theconversation.com/climate-models-reveal-how-human-activity-may-be-locking-the-southwest-into-permanent-drought-262837

"The outlook calls for continued dry conditions in the #Southwest, where global warming is a key driver of a long-term #megadrought that is already disrupting water supplies to cities and nationally important agricultural zones.

The outlook is bad news for Colorado River and Rio Grande flows, and for soil moisture and vegetation health across the region. Drying vegetation heightens concerns for another bad wildfire season in the Southwest."

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24032025/noaa-critical-drought-warnings-spring-climate-outlook/