Global Warming Has Worsened California Drought By Roughly 25 Percent

Rising temperatures driven by climate change have measurably worsened the California drought by increasing evaporation rates and
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A Central Valley orchard stricken by the drought.
exacerbating the state’s lack of rainfall by up to 27 percent, according to a study from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. While natural weather variations are largely thought to have caused the state’s precipitation deficit, rising temperatures appear to be intensifying the situation by driving moisture from plants and soil into the air. The new study is the first to estimate how much worse increasing evaporation rates are making the drought: potentially as much as 27 percent, and most likely 15 to 20 percent worse. Scientists expect higher rainfall levels to resume as soon as this winter, but evaporation will more than overpower any increase in precipitation. This means that by around the 2060s, a drought that is essentially permanent will set in, interrupted only by sporadic rainy years.