Even with all the storms the Western U.S. received in the last two years, climate change is baking the region.
That’s because higher temperatures are increasing evaporation enough to cause drought, according to a study by UCLA scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (For more on the heat, read down to the item on the findings from the Copernicus Climate Change Service).
The unprecedented 2020–2022 Western U.S. drought exemplifies the shift in drought drivers, the study published in Science Advances states.
The researchers found that evaporation accounted for 61% of a drought’s severity compared with 39% from reduced precipitation. This “evaporative demand” has played a bigger role than reduced precipitation in droughts s