How a drought that began in 2000 became the West’s worst in 1,200 years

The American West did not suddenly run out of water, the crisis built slowly. Around 2000, a prolonged drought began spreading across the region, with dry conditions returning year after year and leaving less moisture in the ground. Reservoirs fell, vegetation struggled and the effects of each dry season began adding to the losses of the one before it. As reported in the World Economic Forum, by 2021, what had started as a long dry spell had become the driest 22-year period in at least 1,200 years, according to climate records reconstructed from tree rings. But there was another factor making the drought harder to escape.Temperatures were rising, causing water to evaporate faster from soil and plants. Reportedly, research estimated that human-caused warming accounted for about 42% of the soil-moisture deficit between 2000 and 2021, turning an already serious drought into a much deeper water crisis across the West.Western US drought reaches a 1,200-year low, tree rings revealThe current dry period began around 2000, according to climate reconstructions based partly on tree rings. Trees record changes in the amount of moisture available to them through the width and density of their ...