Longer, more frequent droughts hit western US
Periods of drought in the western United States have become longer over the past 50 years, according to a new study. In hopes of understanding how significantly rainfall totals and timing have changed in the past five decades, researchers analyzed daily meteorological data from over 300 long-term weather stations across the western US. “In the West, total annual rainfall has decreased by about 0.4 inches since the 1970s. The average longest dry period has increased by roughly 50% from 20 to 32 days,” says co-senior author William K. Smith, assistant professor in the School of Natural Reso...
Source: futurity.org
