By 2030, the combination of extreme heat and atmospheric dryness that made the ongoing drought so extreme is likely to return more than once a decade. Such record-low precipitation, however, is likely to remain rare.
The findings of their review of more than 14,000 studies are clear: climate change is affecting nearly every part of the planet, and there is no doubt that human activities are the cause.
February 2021 was the United States' coldest February in 30 years, but the winter overall was warmer than average. Much of the West remained in some level of drought.
Hundreds of wildfires burned through over one million acres of land in California in less than two weeks in August. The resulting smoke has not only worsened air quality across the state but spread across the country.
Wildfires across Colorado during summer 2020 has led to the shutdown of the major thoroughfare across the state and billowed smoke for hundreds of miles.
The August 2020 outlook favors hotter-than-average temperatures along both coasts, while tropical moisture is likely to lead to a wetter-than-average August along the East Coast.
While the precipitation outlook for June is varied, the temperature outlook is one-sided, with most of the country having a higher chance for a warm June than a cool one.
This Q&A features tree expert Leander Anderegg and what he is learning about how some of the West's iconic trees—including Colorado's quaking aspen and California's blue oak—survive or succumb to drought.
