More Heat, More Drought: New Analyses Offer Grim Outlook for the U.S. West.

The ongoing drought in the U.S. West is expected to persist through this summer, raising the risk of water shortages and wildfires. While California, Arizona, and New Mexico are now facing the brunt of the drought, new research suggests that Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming will increasingly come to look like the Southwest as temperatures continue to rise. 

 In its latest seasonal outlook, the National Weather Service projects the drought, which began in early 2020, will continue across virtually the entire American West. Cooler waters in the Pacific are giving rise to fewer storms in the Southwest, while higher temperatures on land are drying out soil. In the last two years, average temperatures have been upward of 2 degrees F (1.1 degrees C) warmer ac 

ross the West and more than 3 degrees F (1.7 degrees C) warmer in much of the Southwest. 

 “The dryness has coincided with record-breaking wildfires, intense and long-lasting heat waves, low stream flows and dwindling water supplies in reservoirs that millions of people across the region rely on,” University of Colorado climate scientist Imtiaz Rangwala wrote in The Conversation.

The number of days with “fire weather” — high heat, low humidity, and wind — has grown across much of the American West since 1973, according to an analysis from Climate Central...more