Drought: It's Been 500 Years Since California Had This Little Snow

It turns out that California hasn't been this dry in 500 years. Scientists have examined tree rings and found that the High Sierra's winter snowpack was the smallest it's been in centuries.

Just this past weekend, thousands fled California wildfires that destroyed over 400 homes and businesses. These wildfires, though, are likely to grow in number over time as drought conditions worsen. But how bad is the drought exactly? That's exactly what researchers set to find out.

Scientists analyzed blue oak tree rings in the state's Central Valley. These tree rings revealed that, in fact, weather conditions haven't been this bad since the 1500s. That was around the time when European explorers landed in what became San Diego, when Columbus set off on a final voyage to the Caribbean.

"We should be prepared for this time of snow drought to occur much more frequently because of rising temperatures," said Valerie Trouet, one of the researchers, in an interview with Forbes. "Anthropogenic warming is making the drought more severe."

The Sierra snowpack piles up every winter and spring. Historically, the snowpack provides at least one-third of California's water each year through the state's network of reservoirs. It also replenishes the groundwater in California's deep aquifers.

So what does this mean? It's likely that we'll see drought conditions continue in the future. While it's likely that there will also be a break in this drought, climate change will continue to cause the situation to worsen over time.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

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