Park Williams is Professor of Geography at UCLA, and is lead author of an influential study of Western US paleoclimate showing a repetitive occurrence of long periods of aridity – termed Megadroughts.
The period we’re in now already qualifies as a medium strength Megadrought, the only variable is how long it continues. This drought is also super charged by more than a 1 degree C rise in global temperatures in the last century.
Longest mega drought pattern in the last 1200 years lasted a century. Just sayin..
That’s ominous… the century-long mega-drought corresponds to the time of the Medieval Warm Period, which as we now all know, wasn’t much as warm periods go. A blip in temperature compared to where we are and are going. We’ve barely gotten the seat warm for this one…. settle in for a very long drought and more burning forests.