![Drought icon](/sites/default/files/2021-08/6102a1b8cbc3ae2fd4e2bee4_drought2%5B1%5D.png)
![Fire icon](/sites/default/files/2021-08/60f6de7db0ae3455988951bd_fire%5B1%5D.png)
Drought Risk Increase
Global warming drives drought through changes in both precipitation and temperatures that vary by region. Depending on a region’s latitude, climate change can reduce or increase the total annual precipitation. It can also concentrate the year’s precipitation into fewer but heavier downpours. This can lead to more runoff, which contributes to drought. Global warming can also raise local temperatures and drive more frequent and intense heat waves, all of which can dry out land and prompt the early melt of snowpack, another contributor to drought.
Read MoreApr 28, 2022
Western Wildfire Season 2022
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Oct 20, 2020
Western Drought 2020-2022
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Nov 20, 2019
California Water Year 2019-2020
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Aug 19, 2021 | NBC News
Caldor Fire explodes more than 8 times its size to nearly 54,000 acres in a day
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Aug 18, 2021 | The Washington Post
Wildfires explode again in the West, fanned by turbulent winds
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Aug 16, 2021 | NBC News
Heat waves, wildfires & drought: How this summer is a 'preview' of Earth's coming climate crisis
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Sep 5, 2017 | Cal Fire | US Forest Service
California Tree Mortality Viewer
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Aug 16, 2017 | Princeton
Africa Flood and Drought Monitor
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Apr 4, 2017 | California Department of Water Resources
California Daily Statewide Hydrologic Update
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Mar 24, 2021 | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Increased drought severity tracks warming in the United States’ largest river basin
Mar 10, 2021 | Geophysical Research Letters
A Later Onset of the Rainy Season in California
Mar 10, 2021 | Environmental Research Letters
Increasing importance of temperature as a contributor to the spatial extent of streamflow drought
Earth Systems Signals
Global warming is causing widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere.
Heat Signals
The Earth is getting hotter due to human activities that release heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.
Drought Signals
Climate change is making droughts more likely to occur, and more severe when they do.
Wildfires Signals
Climate change is increasing the size, frequency, intensity and seasonality of wildfires.
Hurricanes Signals
Warmer temperatures increase the rate of water evaporation, which feeds moisture and energy into storms.
Floods Signals
Worsening floods due to climate change are putting a growing number of communities at risk.