Western US may be headed for a once-in-500-years “megadrought”
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the study is the role that climate change is playing. The current drought seems to be affecting a wider area more consistently than the earlier events, which is a hallmark of climate change. In fact, the researchers calculate that this drought would have been pretty moderate otherwise, ranking 11th in severity in the 1,200-year period. Instead, climate change has created higher underlying temperatures which boosted it to the top of the charts.
While there’s always an element of natural variation, the team says that climate change is shifting events like droughts towards the more extreme end of the scale more regularly.