Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Renew Now, Pay Later
Sharing Google Activities
2 min.
Setting Up Student View
Exploring Your Issue
Using Text to Speech
Join Our Facebook Group!
1 min.
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Science World magazine.
Article Options
Presentation View
Drought in the West
JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES
BEFORE AND AFTER: Lake Oroville shown in April 2017 (inset) and in July 2021, during the height of the drought.
The American West is enduring one of its worst droughts in recorded history. By July 2021, nearly 59 percent of the land in seven Western states was experiencing extreme to exceptional drought (the most intense level of drought). In California, bodies of water called reservoirs are drying up. That’s alarming because they supply water for homes and agriculture, as well as generate electricity via hydropower.
TEARING UP TREES: During the drought, many farmers replaced almond trees, which require extensive watering, with less thirsty crops.
Droughts are nothing new in the West. But scientists think climate change is making these dry periods more frequent—and more severe. Experts agree that rising temperatures increased the severity of the latest drought by causing more water to evaporate, or change from a liquid to a gas. A hotter atmosphere is “thirstier,” sucking moisture from soil and plants, says Ben Cook, a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. As a result, says Cook, “climate change is making the drought much more extreme.”
Lake Oroville is the second-largest reservoir in California. When it’s full, the water reaches about 900 feet above sea level. What was Lake Oroville’s water level at the start of July 2021? How does that compare with its level at the same time in 2020 and 2019?
SOURCE: LAKES ONLINE