{"id":594665,"date":"2018-06-25T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T13:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=594665"},"modified":"2018-06-22T19:58:13","modified_gmt":"2018-06-23T01:58:13","slug":"in-the-southwest-drought-doesnt-tell-the-whole-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/in-the-southwest-drought-doesnt-tell-the-whole-story\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Southwest, ‘drought’ doesn\u2019t tell the whole story"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"416

USFS<\/p>

The 416 Fire near Durango, Colorado, ignited on June 1. By June 21, the wildfire covered more than 34,000 acres and was 37 percent contained.<\/p><\/div>\n

In early June,\u00a0more than 1,000 people near Durango, Colorado<\/a>,\u00a0had to leave their homes as the 416 Fire swept across the landscape. Following a dismal snowpack, the region experienced a spring so hot and dry that the U.S. Drought Monitor labeled conditions \u201cexceptional drought,\u201d the worst category.<\/p>\n

Colorado wasn\u2019t alone. An\u00a0irregular bull\u2019s-eye of dryness<\/a>\u00a0radiated outward from the entire Four Corners region, where Colorado meets New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. These circumstances offer something of a preview of the coming decades: While experts say the Southwest will continue to experience swings in precipitation from year to year, overall climate change is making\u00a0the region<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0its river basins<\/a>\u00a0hotter and drier. That means humans must adapt to life with less water. \u201cWe have to fundamentally change the mindset of the public, and the way we manage this resource,\u201d says\u00a0Newsha Ajami<\/a>, a hydrologist and the director of urban water policy at Stanford University\u2019s Water in the West program. \u201cAnd one of the ways you do it is, you have to change the terminologies that we use in dealing with water.\u201d<\/p>\n