American West Will Face Mega Droughts in Coming Century

[The Free North]

Never heard of that journal, would much rather trust/read some mainstream climate or meteorological literature.


As for the claims of mega drought..sadly no, the PDO will revert back to a positive phase soon and we will see normalization in precipitation patterns in the west. Of course the long term viability of US cities out there is in question but thats mainly due to the ballooning population of what essentially is uninhabitable wasteland (Vegas/LA).


The immovable ridging we have had out west these past 2 winters has produced incredible cold here in the east but like any pattern will continue to fluctuate. Should we get a re-invigorated El Nino event coupled with a warm PDO and a strong Subtropical Jet, California will have to worry about mudslides rather than drought.

[The Free North]

I don't get why some of these cities, like Phoenix or Las Vegas, just don't build a massive pipe/hose that connects the Pacific Ocean to the city

Because you can't drink salt water and desalination is far more expensive than draining the colorado river dry.