The effects of climate change are playing out in real-time on the United States' West Coast, according to a recently published study by UCLA researchers.
The drought that California and other states like Washington and Oregon have been struggling with in recent years has gotten so bad, that last year was the driest its been in 1,200 years, according to a study published Monday in Nature Climate Change.
The study analyzed tree rings in order to better understand drought fluctuations over the centuries, lead study author Park Williams, a climate hydrologist at UCLA, told KCBS Radio's Margie Shafer on Monday.
And nearly half – 42% – of this latest megadrought is connected to society-caused climate change, the study reported, according to The Associated Press.
"We can use tree ring records to extend our drought records back for the last 1,200 years," said Williams. "And when we do that, we see the 2000s have been on average, drier than any other 22 year period in the last 1,200 years."
The drought covers the western region of North America, from British Columbia in Canada down to northern Mexico. The most affected areas have been in central Arizona and the four corners of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
In California, it's been especially bad in Southern California. In Northern California, it hasn’t been the worst it's been in 1,200 years, but it's been in the top five, said Williams.
Some periods weren't totally dry, and 2019 was particularly wet, but not enough to make up for the rest of the dry conditions throughout the last two decades.
Williams' team released a similar study in 2020 that thought 2019 might end the current megadrought, which typically ends after about 20 years, but the following two years tossed that hope out the window.
"2021 was one of the two worst drought years in the last 300 years," he said. The previous worst year was 2002.
This drought is now expected to persist through this year and beyond.
There is some hope – but not much. "We found about a 6% chance that this drought could end in the next year or two."
At worst, the drought could continue for the next 30 years, said Williams.
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