Western U.S. drought: How bad is it?

Authors

Janak Timilsena, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Thomas C. Piechota, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow
Hugo G. Hidalgo, Scripps Institution of OceanographyFollow
Glenn A. Tootle, University of Nevada, Las VegasFollow

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

Historical stream flow records and the forecast for 2004 make the current (lpar;1999–2004) drought in the southwestern United States the worst one in the past 80 years for portions of the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB). For the Colorado River (near Cisco, Utah), the cumulative stream flow deficit (departure from long term mean) for the current drought is almost 11 km3, or approximately 2 years of average stream flow. Although the current drought is the most significant, based on stream flow records, is it the worst ever?

Keywords

Colorado River Basin; Drought; Hydroclimatology; Steam flow measurements

Disciplines

Climate | Environmental Sciences | Fresh Water Studies

Comments

Presented at the CA-NV-American Water Works Association (AWWA) 2004 Annual Fall Conference, October 11-15, 2004, Sacramento, California.

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited

Repository Citation

Timilsena, J., Piechota, T. C., Hidalgo, H. G., Tootle, G. A. (2004, January). Western U.S. drought: How bad is it?.

Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/presentations/4