Improving the Federal Response to Western Drought: Five Areas for Reform

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | January 26th, 2016

The federal government is deeply involved in western water. It is the largest landowner, major supplier of irrigation, principal supporter of the farm sector, primary sou

The federal government is deeply involved in western water. It is the largest landowner, major supplier of irrigation, principal supporter of the farm sector, primary source of water information, and chief environmental regulator. For more than a century, western states have relied on a complex partnership with numerous federal agencies to manage water. The latest widespread drought has revealed both strengths and weaknesses in the federal role. To weather a warmer and possibly drier future, and to prepare for and respond to drought more effectively , the states and the federal government must address these weaknesses and work together to strengthen their partnership. Timely solutions are critical, given the growing vulnerability of the region’s residents, businesses, and environment to drought . This report identifies a suite of federal actions that can help weste rn states better manage drought . These reforms are, by design, modest and pragmatic. They focus on enhancing existing federal capacities, rather than implementing sweeping initiatives that would require time-consuming new funding or legislation.

Increased drought and extreme events over continental United States under high emissions scenario

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | December 6th, 2023

Increased future occurrences of the exceptional 2018–2019 Central European drought under global warming

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | August 6th, 2020

Since the spring 2018, a large part of Europe has been in the midst of a record-setting drought. Using long-term observations, we demonstrate that the occurrence of the

Since the spring 2018, a large part of Europe has been in the midst of a record-setting drought. Using long-term observations, we demonstrate that the occurrence of the 2018–2019 (consecutive) summer drought is unprecedented in the last 250 years, and its combined impact on the growing season vegetation activities is stronger compared to the 2003 European drought. Using a suite of climate model simulation outputs, we underpin the role of anthropogenic warming on exacerbating the future risk of such a consecutive drought event. Under the highest Representative Concentration Pathway, (RCP 8.5), we notice a seven-fold increase in the occurrence of the consecutive droughts, with additional 40 ( ±5 ) million ha of cultivated areas being affected by such droughts, during the second half of the twenty-first century. The occurrence is significantly reduced under low and medium scenarios (RCP 2.6 and RCP 4.5), suggesting that an effective mitigation strategy could aid in reducing the risk of future consecutive droughts.

Increasing Hydroclimatic Whiplash Can Amplify Wildfire Risk in a Warming Climate

Global Change Biology (Wiley) | February 7th, 2025

The catastrophic January 2025 fires were propelled by an especially extreme combination of these two recognized risk factors: (1) downslope wind gusts over 80 mph (35 m/s

The catastrophic January 2025 fires were propelled by an especially extreme combination of these two recognized risk factors: (1) downslope wind gusts over 80 mph (35 m/s) and exceptionally dry vegetation following a historically dry start to the rainy season and unusually warm antecedent temperatures driving a prolonged episode of elevated atmospheric evaporative demand. But there was also a third contributor: two consecutive anomalously wet winters (in 2022–2023 and 2023–2024), which led to abundant growth of herbaceous vegetation across CSC. This remarkable wet-to-dry sequence, therefore, set the stage for the CSC wildfire disasters to unfold by first facilitating prodigious fuel accumulation during the previous growing seasons, then subsequently drying vegetation to produce exceptional flammability unusually far into winter (when Santa Ana winds are common). Globally, climate change has increased wildfire potential primarily through greater aridity (Jain et al. 2022). In CSC, hotter summer and autumn seasons drive this aridity by increasing evaporative demand (i.e., atmospheric “thirst”), subsequently drying out vegetation. This, in conjunction with an increasingly delayed onset of the rainy season (Goss et al. 2020), may also be increasing temporal overlap between critically dry vegetation and Santa Ana winds (Swain 2021). As the events of January 2025 vividly illustrate, however, transitions from anomalously wet to anomalously dry conditions may further amplify these risks by exacerbating fuel accumulation and desiccation cycles. Indeed, in fire regimes (including CSC) where fire occurrence varies strongly with inter-annual variations in biomass (Swetnam et al. 2016), increased hydroclimate volatility is causally linked to increased wildfire activity.

Increasing importance of 2021 temperature as a driver of streamflow drought spatial extent

Environmental Research Letters (IOP) | February 9th, 2021

Widespread streamflow droughts can pose substantially greater societal challenges than spatially less extensive events because of the complex realities of trans-regional

Widespread streamflow droughts can pose substantially greater societal challenges than spatially less extensive events because of the complex realities of trans-regional water management. In a warming climate, drought spatial extent may change along with changes in underlying hydro-meteorological contributors. Here, we assess changes in streamflow drought spatial extent over the period 1981–2018 across the conterminous United States, and how the importance of potential hydro-meteorological contributors has changed over time. We first derive a monthly time series of drought spatial extent and look at trends in streamflow drought spatial extent. We then determine the spatial percentage 'overlap' of precipitation droughts, temperature anomalies, snow-water-equivalent deficits, and soil moisture deficits with the area under streamflow drought to look at the changing influence of these contributors on spatial extent. Our results show that (1) the spatial extent of droughts has increased, mainly because of increases in the extent of small droughts; (2) streamflow drought extents overall substantially overlap with soil moisture deficits and the relationship of drought to precipitation and temperature anomalies varies seasonally; and (3) the importance of temperature as a contributor to drought extent has increased over time. We therefore conclude that continued global warming may further increase drought extents, requiring adaptation of regional drought management strategies.

Increasing water cycle extremes in California and in relation to ENSO cycle under global warming

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | October 21st, 2015

Since the winter of 2013–2014, California has experienced its most severe drought in recorded history, causing statewide water stress, severe economic loss and

Since the winter of 2013–2014, California has experienced its most severe drought in recorded history, causing statewide water stress, severe economic loss and an extraordinary increase in wildfires. Identifying the effects of global warming on regional water cycle extremes, such as the ongoing drought in California, remains a challenge. Here we analyse large-ensemble and multi-model simulations that project the future of water cycle extremes in California as well as to understand those associations that pertain to changing climate oscillations under global warming. Both intense drought and excessive flooding are projected to increase by at least 50% towards the end of the twenty-first century; this projected increase in water cycle extremes is associated with a strengthened relation to El Niño and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO)—in particular, extreme El Niño and La Niña events that modulate California’s climate not only through its warm and cold phases but also its precursor patterns.

Independent Review Panel (IRP) Report for the 2014 Long-Term Operations Biological Opinions (LOBO) Annual Science Review

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | December 1st, 2014

Inflation Reduction Act of 2022

United States Congress | August 6th, 2022

Click "get document" for the entire bill. Scroll below to see its drought relief amendment.

Click "get document" for the entire bill. Scroll below to see its drought relief amendment.

Integrated approaches to understanding and reducing drought impact on food security across scales

Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability (Elsevier) | October 1st, 2019

Understanding the cross-scale linkages between drought and food security is vital to developing tools to reduce drought impacts and support decision making. This study re

Understanding the cross-scale linkages between drought and food security is vital to developing tools to reduce drought impacts and support decision making. This study reviews how drought hazards transfer to food insecurity through changes in physical processes and socio-environmental systems across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. We propose a multi-scale, integrated framework leveraging modeling advances (e.g. drought and crop monitoring, water-food-energy nexus, decision making) and increased data availability (e.g. satellite remote sensing, food trade) through the lens of the coupled human–natural system to support multidisciplinary approaches and avoid potential policy spillover effects. We discuss current scale-dependent challenges in tackling drought-induced food security whilst minimizing water use conflicts and environmental impacts. 

Intensification of hydrological drought in California by human water management

American Geophysical Union (AGU) | January 25th, 2017