Droughts in the western US have risen to a level “unprecedented” since the 16th century , a new study suggests. Climate researchers found that hot droughts, concurrent drought and heat events, have increased in both severity and frequency in recent years due to climate change.
In a study published this week in the Science Advances journal, the researchers said that the last 20 years in the western US have been the driest in 1,200 years , creating what experts call a megadrought, an exceptionally severe drought that lasts for many years over a wide area.
Karen King, lead author of the study, said that the megadrought conditions are being amplified by human activity and if global warming continues , we can expect to see them even more frequently.
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The study used tree ring data to build on previous research and measure how temperatures have changed over time . The team drove around the Pacific Northwest and Interior Mountain West to analyze the density of the tree rings to compare temperatures from 1553 to 2020.