Two Images Tell the Tale of California’s Terrifying Drought

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. The US southwest has been experiencing drought conditions for the last 14 years.

It isn't just California. And palaeoclimatology and dendrochronology show that these drought events are both common and historically relatively frequent, and may last anywhere from decades to over a century. Combine that with climate change and these low-rainfall conditions could be a new normal. Which means the end of agriculture in places like the San Joaquin and Imperial Valleys, and the end of cities like San Diego and LA and Vegas. All of these rely on water from the Colorado River (which comes from Rocky Mountain snowmelt; climate change and global warming mean less snow, less snowmelt, more evaporation, and less water), and from snowmelt from the Sierra Nevadas (Sierra Nevada snowpack is at its lowest level ever).