U.S. Southwest Megadrought Blamed on Climate Change; New Mexico, Others in Its Driest State in 1200 years

New research shows that the megadrought has been experienced across the Southwestern U.S. for at least two decades. It added that the region is seeing its driest conditions in 1,200 years.

The study was published on Nature Climate Change on Monday. Researchers studied tree ring patterns and found that the current megadrought has exceeded the severity of one experienced in the later 1500s and driest since AD 800, ABC 7 Chicago News reported.

Researchers included southern Montana, northern Mexico, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains in the study.

Host and writer of Redacted Tonight Lee Camp tweeted his opinion regarding the study. Camp said that people will continue to ignore the dire climate conditions and will get back trying to have war with other countries.

Politician Lourin Hubbard took to Twitter to express his opinions, saying that a comprehensive climate policy is needed to address the crisis now.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted that the term "megadrought" is used to take note of a severe and intense drought that spans a couple of decades.

U.S. Southwest Megadrought

The Southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico region is home to tens of millions of people, with agricultural centers, and including some of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S.

Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that the number of water molecules available is declining.

Williams is also the study's lead author. According to an NPR report, he sounded the alarm regarding climate change, saying that it is time for people to get real about how much water there is to use.

Williams said that there were hopes during a wet 2019 that the current megadrought was following a similar pattern.

Williams said that the drought is nowhere near done, with the dry conditions across the West starting from summer 2020 through all of 2021.

The study estimated that 42 percent of this megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change, according to The Salt Lake Tribune report.

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton said that what people hoped they would never see "is here."

The whole state of California was considered in official drought from mid-May until the end of 2021.

The U.S. drought monitor noted that at least three-quarters of the state was at the highest two drought levels from June through Christmas.

Williams said that the megadrought really kicked off in 2002, which is one of the driest years ever based on humidity and tree rings.

Federal water managers declared the first-ever water shortage at the Colorado River last year, which caused cuts to some of the river's 40 million water users.

Kim Mitchell, the senior water policy adviser at Western Resource Advocates, said that the Colorado River Basin "no longer has the privilege of time."

Mitchell noted that incremental solutions will not be enough anymore to address the drought.

In addition, existing management guidelines for the Colorado River will be expiring in 2025.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: American West's megadrought worst in 1,200 years - from FOX 13 News Utah