A new review of studies that used hundreds of climate simulations from 1936 to present-day greenhouse gases level warns that a 'dust bowl' more devastating than what occurred during the Great Depression is twice likely to hit the US.
According to the paper, the 'dust bowl' conditions might happen every 20 years if global temperatures continue to rise above 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial. Moreover, Daily Mail reported that the event could bring intense heatwaves and massive droughts across the United States and could also deplete the nation's grain stores, which could affect the world's food system.
Effects of the Dust Bowl
During the 1930s, dust bowl conditions brought extreme heatwaves from 1934 until 1939, when the US experienced the Great Depression. It was then the country recorded its hottest summers in history.
The heatwaves and droughts plagued the plain states, where new settlers are just starting to make their homes, making the land so dry and crumbling. At that time, the dust bowl was the result of the modern farming practices and replacement of native prairie vegetation.
"The 1930s Dust Bowl heatwaves were extremely rare events that we might expect to see once in a hundred years," said Tim Cowan, a researcher from the University of Southern Queensland in Australia.
Presently, the levels of greenhouse gases can spark another dust bowl twice likely, with a period-of-return reduced to once in every 40 years. In the 1930s, global warming was already present, but the weather and climate changes were very small.
But nearly a century later, the dire effects of the human-induced climate change are very apparent, according to the University of Oxford's Environment Change Institute acting director, Friederike Otto.
When the US faced the dust bowl in1930s, extreme heatwaves and drought reduced the vegetation. It is expected that if it ever happens again, heatwaves will be stronger, threatening the global food systems, Otto said in a statement.
The scenario should urge authorities to develop and implement more ambitious adaptation and mitigation plans to reduce the source of greenhouse gases that are produced by the burning of fossil fuels, she added.
The warning comes from a study conducted in March that used hundreds of climate simulations that shows a multi-year dust bowl dramatically reduces the wheat supply of the country that could also affect the world's food system.
Rising Temperatures are to Blame
Since 2000, some parts of the US and Mexico have been plagued by a severe drought - the worse to hit the area in the past 1,200 years. According to experts, the rising temperatures are to blame for half the pace and severity of the current drought.
To determine a drought more severe than anything from prehistory is likely to progress, researchers from Columbia University utilized weather observation, tree-ring data, and dozens of climate models. It was Richard Seager, Lamont climatologist, who first predicted in his 2007 paper that climate change might push the region into a drier climate in the 21st century
He speculated at that time that it might be happening already. Reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, as well as the Colorado River, have already dramatically lost water over the years; and in 2019, California was plagued by deadly wildfires.
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