"California has entered another drought.

But depending on whom you ask, the last one may have never really ended.

Some researchers believe the region is actually more than two decades into an emerging “megadrought” — a hydrological event that is on par with the worst dry spells of the last millennium. Except this time, they say, human-caused climate change is driving its severity — and will make it that much harder to climb back out of.

“If this drought was totally due to natural variability, then we would at least have the comfort of knowing at some point, good luck is very likely to show up again and this is going to end,” said Park Williams, a bioclimatologist and associate professor at UCLA."

Alex Wigglesworth reports for the Los Angeles Times April 18, 2021. [2]