Article:
Signs Of The
Last Times
Researchers fear that the American southwest could be at risk of a megadrought which could last 35 years. The paper, published in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate, says that the risk of such an event over the next century in certain parts of the region runs as high as 20-50%. The risk of a decade-long drought, reaches as high as 90% in certain areas. Such a drought could even last 50 years, with the study estimating the risk of such an occurrence of being 5-10%.
Speaking to the press, Julie E. Cole, a geoscientist from the University of Arizona, says that were the 15-year drought that her state has been experiencing last another 15 years, there would need to be a sea change in how society thinks about water. Arizona is not the only state currently in the grip of drought, with California currently in it’s third year of drought, with the lack of water being enough to raise the ground measurably due to lost pressure.