California drought 'not caused by global warming', official study finds [View all]
Source: Associated Press
California drought 'not caused by global warming', official study finds
Associated Press in Washington
theguardian.com, Tuesday 9 December 2014 00.21 GMT
Don’t blame man-made global warming for the devastating California drought, a new federal report says.
A report issued on Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said natural variations – mostly a La Niña weather oscillation – were the primary drivers behind the drought that has now stretched to three years.
The study’s lead author, Richard Seager of Columbia University, said the paper has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. He and NOAA’s Martin Hoerling said 160 runs of computer models show heat-trapping gases should slightly increase winter rain in parts of California, not decrease.
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Some outside climate scientists criticised the report, saying it did not take into effect how record warmth worsened the drought. California is having its hottest year on record, based on the first 11 months of the year and is 4.1 degrees warmer than the 20th-century average, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/08/california-drought-not-caused-by-global-warming-official-study-finds
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