The consequences of a heating planet are scorching the U.S. Southwest and Mountain West. Two decades of extreme heat and shrinking moisture levels have caused a “megadrought” in states from California to Colorado, amounting to the driest period in 1,200 years.
![Southwest ‘Megadrought’: Heat and Dryness Worst in 1,200 Years](https://www.theedgemedia.org/wp-content/uploads/Dry-Lake-California.png)