Publication: The Associated Press, NBC News, PBS  

UCLA Expert: Park Williams: Associate Professor and Ladder Faculty, UCLA Geography Department 

Synopsis: Three articles featured research led by Williams which assessed changes in baseline weather conditions and how the trends are moving toward a permanently drier climate for the Western US. 

UCLA News:  

The Associated Press: “Climate change is changing the baseline conditions toward a drier, gradually drier state in the West and that means the worst-case scenario keeps getting worse.” 

NBC News: “Some of these big megadroughts in the past were starting to peter out. This drought is not petering out. Instead, it’s in full swing and is as strong now as it ever was before.” 

PBS: “The widths of annual tree rings that grow within the tree trunks actually corresponds almost perfectly to the amount of water that the trees had available to them.” 

Read more at The Associated Press, NBC News and PBS.