Extended Data Fig. 5: Turn-of-the-21st-century drought in the western United States and northern Mexico. | Nature Climate Change

Extended Data Fig. 5: Turn-of-the-21st-century drought in the western United States and northern Mexico.

From: Rapid intensification of the emerging southwestern North American megadrought in 2020–2021

Extended Data Fig. 5: Turn-of-the-21st-century drought in the western United States and northern Mexico.The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Ranking and time evolution of summer (June–August) drought severity as indicated by negative 0–200 cm soil moisture anomalies. Maps show how gridded summer drought severity in each year from 2000–2021 ranked among all years 1901–2021, where low (brown) means low soil moisture and therefore high drought severity. Yellow boxes bound the southwestern North America (SWNA) study region. Time series shows standardized anomalies (σ) of the SWNA regionally averaged soil moisture record relative to a 1950–1999 baseline. Black time series shows annual values and the red time series shows the 22-year running mean, with values displayed on the final year of each 22-year window. Geographic boundaries in maps were accessed through Matlab 2020a.

Back to article page