Publication: L.A. Times

UCLA Expert: Daniel Swain: Assistant Researcher and Climate Specialist, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: The Colorado River crisis is so bad, lakes Mead and Powell are unlikely to refill in our lifetimes. Scientists say higher temperatures effectively make the atmosphere “thirstier,” causing more moisture to evaporate off the landscape. Vegetation also takes up more water as temperatures rise, leaving less runoff flowing in streams.

UCLA News: Swain says an exceptionally wet decade might someday change things. “But the problem is, it doesn’t just have to be wetter than average, it would have to be dramatically wetter than the long-term average,” he noted. 

Read more at L.A. Times.