U.S. Southwest could become next Dust Bowl, warn climatologists

Wednesday, September 19, 2007 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: climate change, health news, Natural News

(NewsTarget) Changes in storm and moisture patterns due to global warming may cause rainfall in the U.S. Southwest to diminish at levels comparable to that of the 1930s Dust Bowl in the Midwest, according to a study published in the journal Science.

Researchers examined the same climate models that were used to prepare the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with data ranging back to 1860. All 19 models were in agreement that the climate of the southwestern United States and portions of northern Mexico are in the midst of an ongoing drying trend, which began late in the 20th century.

The reduction in rainfall in this region could be comparable to that suffered by the midwestern states in the 1930s, said lead researcher Richard Seager of Columbia University. The Southwest would not necessarily experience the same kind of dust storms seen during the Depression -- as those were caused largely by topsoil-depleting agricultural practices -- but a severe water crisis is almost certain, Seager said.

Currently, the majority of the water used in the Southwest goes to agriculture. However, the population of the region is growing fast, and at the same time the water resources are dwindling.

"The water available is already fully allocated," Seager said.

Jonathan T. Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona, said that the water shortages predicted by the study will be exacerbated by the region's "already declining spring snowpack."

Water shortage is "something that needs to be planned for," Seager said. "It's time to start thinking [about] how to deal with that."

While the breakup of ice sheets and other spectacular changes in the polar regions have garnered the most attention, other small but significant signs of global warming are already being noted. In the same issue of Science, researchers reported that due to warmer temperatures, certain mushrooms and toadstools in southern England have been fruiting twice a year instead of just once.