IT’S REALLY
CLIMATE CHANGE
THAT PUSHED
[THE DROUGHT]
TO BE ONE OF
THE WORST.”
—Ben Cook, climate
scientist, Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory
In Colorado, wild
horses stampede on
land so dry that dust
billows up at the slight-
est touch. The Amer-
ican West recorded
an exceptionally hot
and dry year in 2021;
in the Southwest it
was another entry in a
20-year-long “mega-
drought” so intense
that it rivals any in the
past 12 centuries. But
“as warm and hot and
record-setting as it
has been the last few
years,” says climate
scientist Brad Udall,
“what you need to
keep in mind is, these
are some of the coolest
temperatures you’re
going to experience
in the next 100 years.
Because it’s just going
to get hotter. You ain’t
seen nothing yet.”JULY 31 DRY TIMES ON THE WESTERN RANGE
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