Climate change is a threat to our planet. Our planet is getting hotter day by day. Sea water temperature is also rising. Due to this excess heat, areas with little water become hot and dry, eventually leading to drought. Warmer temperatures enhance evaporation, which reduces surface water and dries out soils and vegetation. This makes periods with low precipitation drier than they would be in cooler conditions. Climate change is also altering the timing of water availability.
Droughts don’t just affect water stored in wetlands, lakes, and rivers, but also water below ground stored in aquifers and in the soil. When this groundwater is used up, the dry land can act like a sponge, sucking up the surface water directly. The surface water-groundwater relationship gets even more complicated with snowpack. If snow melts too early in the year, water can move through the environment too quickly, causing the ground to dry up and become “thirsty” too soon. So even if there is “enough” water, the timing of the water may dictate whether an area is in a drought. Climate change has further altered the natural pattern of droughts, making them more frequent, longer, and more severe. Since 2000, the western United States is experiencing some of the driest conditions on record. The southwestern U.S., in particular, is going through an unprecedented period of extreme drought. This will have lasting impacts on the environment and on those who rely on it.
The latest science says that as the climate warms, more precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow, snow is melting earlier, and evaporation and transpiration increase. All of these, combined with rising temperatures, can reduce water availability and increase water demands. In most of the country, rising temperatures associated with future climate change are expected to decrease surface soil moisture. Even without future changes in precipitation, this drying of soils is likely to cause future droughts.
Droughts are costly and affect people inside and outside the areas directly experiencing dry conditions, especially when a drought affects agricultural regions. Agriculture is the industry most affected by drought at the sector level. For example in California, the agriculture sector reported estimated losses of more than $3.8 billion from the 2012-2016 drought. Considering that California produces more than a third of the vegetables and two-thirds of the fruits and nuts sold in the United States, California’s drought had major national and international implications. Beyond direct economic impacts to a number of industries, drought can threaten drinking water supplies and ecosystems, increase wildfire risk, and contribute to increased food prices.
Climate change can disrupt traditional precipitation patterns, leading to changes in the timing, intensity, and distribution of rainfall. This can result in periods of more intense drought in some areas and more intense rainfall in others. In regions where snowpack and glaciers are important water sources, such as mountainous areas, climate change can lead to reduced snowpack and earlier melting. This can disrupt the timing and availability of water resources, contributing to drought conditions downstream. Climate change can alter atmospheric circulation patterns, leading to shifts in weather systems that can influence drought conditions. For example, changes in the jet stream can lead to persistent high-pressure systems that block rainfall from reaching certain areas for extended periods.
While climate change doesn’t directly cause droughts, it can create conditions that make droughts more likely to occur and more severe when they do happen. It’s important to understand these connections in order to better prepare for and mitigate the impacts of droughts in a changing climate.
To know the cause of drought due to climate change click below:
https://weatherclash.com/index.php/2024/05/04/in-light-of-climate-change-what-causes-droughts/
