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In the American West, the two-decade period from 2000 to 2020 is the warmest in half a millennium, according to a new study that looked at tree rings to track temperature changes over the past 500 years. As a result, drought is becoming more frequent and intense.
Increased temperatures from human-driven climate change are also causing drought to become more widespread. Over the past two decades, the spatial footprint of severe hot drought—a combination of above-average temperatures and low precipitation—far exceeds that of any other period since at least the middle of the 16th century.
These results are especially concerning for the 40 million people that rely on water supplied by the Colorado River, which has been shrinking due to severe hot drought and from increased demand, especially among agricultural producers who are draining groundwater supplies to make up for low precipitation.
“We know that extreme heat has consequences,” said Karen King, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and the study’s lead author. “We know that drought has consequences. So when they're compounded together, we can expect that those vulnerabilities are only going to be magnified and the consequences are going to be more wide reaching.”
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If the BLM was looking for some demand for these rules, it indeed found it in the comments it has received, and in poll after poll showing that Montanans and other Westerners want the BLM to stop prioritizing industry at the expense of clean water, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities. Now is the time for the agency to finalize and implement the rules.”
