California Is Finally Drought Free
What was known as the 1,200 drought in the Western US may be over. It ran from 2000 to 2022 and was blamed on climate change. There is no way to predict if it will return.
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Many scientists have examined drought periods as far back as 800 AD. There may have been a terrible drought in 1500, but they are uncertain. In 2022, Park Williams, a climate scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles, wrote, “Without climate change, this would not be even close to as bad as one of those historical megadroughts.”
In the last year, California and the mountains east of it have received what are thought to be record rains. One byproduct of this is the carefully followed Drought Monitor shows no drought in California, except for a tiny area on its northwest corner, which touches Nevada.
Years Of Rain And Snow
Will the years of rain and snow continue? They must return to alleviate the drought conditions entirely, perhaps for years. Lake Meade, a critical source of energy and water, is no longer at record low levels. However, it is still well below where it was a decade ago.
Farmers who work in the inland parts of California, west and northwest of Los Angeles, would need several years of heavy rain to ensure that reinvesting in agricultural ventures would be profitable over time. (The exception is several ranches that use massive amounts of water for irrigation.)
The drought is over, but with the fluctuations in weather caused by climate change, it could quickly return.
