In the nearly 25 years since the U.S. Drought Monitor was created, its weekly maps of drought conditions nationwide—which help direct emergency federal aid—have captured the steady march toward the drier, hotter reality of climate change, according to a new Dartmouth-based study.
In the nearly 25 years since the U.S. Drought Monitor was created, its weekly maps of drought conditions nationwide—which help direct emergency federal aid—have captured the steady march toward the drier, hotter reality of climate change, according to a new Dartmouth-based study.
But the Drought Monitor itself has not adapted to that reality, the researchers report in the journal AGU Advances. Areas of the country are spending more and more time in severe drought conditions the Drought Monitor still considers to be rare occurrences, raising questions about whether and how federal monitoring should account for long-term climate trends.
The consequences could be that swaths of the country—particularly in the West—may not receive aid in keeping with the enhanced risk of drought, despite baking in extreme heat for months. The challenge for federal authorities, the researchers report, is making sure the Drought Monitor remains effective as periodic emergencies become persistent new realities.
Read more at Dartmouth College
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