By 2050, the severity of widespread summer drought is projected to more than triple in Arizona, the second largest increase behind Washington.
If upstream states continue to be unable to make up the shortage, Lake Mead, whose surface is now about 1,085 feet above sea level, will drop to 1,000 feet by 2020. Under present conditions, that would cut off most of Las Vegas’s water supply and much of Arizona’s. Tuscon gets almost all their water supply from the Colorado River, while Phoenix receives about half its supply from the river.
Climate change is creating an “unprecedented” risk of severe drought in the Southwest and Central Plains... More
The Southwest is already the most arid part of the U.S. Now new research indicates it’s becoming even more dry as wet weather patterns, quite literally, dry up... More
Even as the number of Americans relying on the Colorado River for household water swells to about 40 million, global warming appears to be taking a chunk out of the flows that feed their reservoirs... More
Tinder-dry conditions that have resulted from months with little to no rain and toasty fall temperatures have allowed the fires to reach unusual heights. More