We were given an excellent warning by climate scientists.

Recent research has shown how such compelling forces are playing out on the ground. Now we are playing a new ballgame and scientists don’t know what to expect.” “But the really bad news is all the previous megadroughts took place without the influence of increasing greenhouse gases. “This one seems to be more severe than any of the previous droughts and just as long,” he says. Tim Kohler, an archaeologist and professor at Washington State University, says the current megadrought is different from prehistoric dry periods. Line chart of the five megadroughts since AD800. In a new series, the Guardian will explore the consequences of megadrought on the communities and environments of the US south-west, where cattle ranchers, Indigenous peoples and tourists alike are seeing their daily lives upended. “And, yet, instead of mustering the will to do something about it, our political and economic systems rallied to do nothing.” “We were given an excellent warning by climate scientists,” says Bill McKibben, the journalist turned climate activist. It is also a reminder that despite all the modern innovations to circumvent an unforgiving climate, drought may once again have the final say unless drastic steps are taken quickly. The extraordinary conditions offer a warning of what lies ahead for other arid regions that cross this line. Data from the US Drought Monitor, a federal government monitoring system, offers a snapshot of how these last 22 years have unfolded.Ī recent analysis by the Washington Post found that, in some parts of the south-west, average annual temperatures have already risen by more than 1.5C, a threshold widely considered the tipping point at which devastating consequences for people and the environment take hold. A study this year found that the current dry period, which began in the year 2000, is the worst in 1,200 years.

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