r/environment • u/Splenda • 19d ago

Climate Change Is Already Here. Just Look at the American West

https://time.com/extreme-heat-climate-change/
110 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

18

u/Toadfinger 19d ago

A headline that was true 10 years ago.

17

u/EclecticEuTECHtic 19d ago

Just look at the (gestures at everything).

9

u/matt2001 19d ago

This is a good article - accurate portrayal.

I did a coast-to-coast road trip this year. Las Vegas 117 degrees and Lake Mead 1/3 full. Dying vegetation from Eastern California to Western Texas. Fires raging. I'm concerned that we will see an Eastward migration soon.

2

u/Fast_Turtle99 19d ago

I think we will start to see vegetation dry out more eastward over time. Forest fires in the west are associated with increasing vapor pressure density (VPD) or the difference between how much moisture the air is holding and how much it can hold. The hotter it is, the more it can hold and the more it dries out vegetation and water sources. Once everything in the west dries out then it will be hotter, dryer, with more capacity to suck up moisture moving further inland. That’s my thought at least. I know very little about weather patterns though.

Edit: oh maybe you meant an eastward migration of people.

1

u/matt2001 18d ago

Good point. I think the drought will move Eastward but I think people also start to escape eastward.

1

u/Splenda 18d ago

The Eastern half of the country is generally seeing more rain and flooding, except for a small drying section of the southeast. But you're right that more heat dries out soils and fuels faster.

The larger trend is the northward expansion of the tropics, pushing deserts north.

1

u/Fast_Turtle99 18d ago

I’m envisioning it getting drier in Colorado where there have been some fires but it could get much worse. And eventually into Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska where there were dry conditions this year and will get to the point that they can’t grow much in those states anymore.

2

u/Quantum-Ape 19d ago

The fun part about climate change is the interim chaos.. Maybe we'll get 3 years of mega drought then 2 years of intense storms