Strange Sounds – Apr 18, 2020
In the 1930s, the United States was suffering from the most severe drought in its history, the “Dust Bowl.”
And be prepared to bite the dust once again, because scientists think the Dust Bowl is coming back for a second round. And this time for it could even last during decades.
A new study has used 1,200 years of tree-ring data, soil moisture records, and dozens of climate models to describe the ever-lengthening string of dry spells that have hit the western United States and northern Mexico over recent decades.
They found that a chronic drought has been lurking around the southwestern US and northern Mexico since at least the year 2000.
The spell of aridity has already become so severe it’s already surpassed three of the four notoriously arid megadroughts of Medieval times.
The researchers were uncertain about the extent of the fourth Medieval megadrought, which spanned from 1575 CE to 1603 CE, although they note the current drought is affecting wider areas more consistently than any megadrought since 800 CE.
“We now have enough observations of current drought and tree-ring records of past drought to say that we’re on the same trajectory as the worst prehistoric droughts,” stated lead author Park Williams.