Changing climate brings drought in U.S.

[lovuian]

http://english.pravda.ru/news/science/05-04-2007/89182-climate-0
Changing climate will increase drought in the southwestern United States, where water already is in short supply.

"The bottom line message for the average person and also for the states and federal government is that they'd better start planning for a Southwest region in which the water resources are increasingly stretched," said Richard Seager of Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory.





Seager is lead author of the study published online Thursday by the journal Science.

Researchers studied 19 computer models of the climate, using data dating back to 1860 and projecting into the future. The same models were used in preparing the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The consensus of the models was that climate in the southwestern United States and parts of northern Mexico began a transition to drier conditions late in the 20th century and is continuing the trend in this century, as climate change alters the movement of storms and moisture in the atmosphere.
more...
They are saying a drought so severe like the Dust Bowl days of 1930

[ClintonTyree]

1. Perhaps they could do without a few golf courses....

and water fountains in Las Vegas and the rest of the southwest? :shrug: I'm appalled every time I see the wasteful use of water in that region. It's sickening that land developers are given carte blanch to create desert oases throughout the region without a single thought as to where the water is going to come from to keep said oases lush and green. So much water is diverted to this area that people are suffering in other regions just so they can enjoy their artificial paradise. Mother nature will always win and some day she will reclaim the desert from which man has profited so handsomely. As the old TV commercial used to say, "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature". A lot of people in the desert southwest are soon to find the truth in that message.

[SoCalDem]

2. I got a newsflash for you.

MOST of the southwest population centers have waaaaaay more people and more "agriculture" than was ever intended.

It's not the climate as much as it is the number of people who are stressing an already stressed area..

BTW..The Colorado River has not made it all the way to the sea for decades now.. It's nothing new..

All the massive "damming projects and reservoirs" are nearing the end of their life-cycle, due to silt, and the ecosystems are more or less permanently damaged..

The weather/climate out here has always been dry-hot-dry-hot-dryer-hotter...It's the humans who keep coming here and demanding more water, that's the real problem.

[Uben]

3. I got news fer ya

The last 2000 yrs in the southwest have been wetter than normal. Dryer and warmer temps are the norm rather than the exception. The availability of water has fueled a population increased that was never warranted by climatic conditions there.