A hydroclimatic index for examining patterns of drought in the Colorado River Basin

To better understand drought occurrence in the Colorado River Basin (CRB) of the southwestern United States we used a hydroclimatic index to create a historical record of drought coverage and analysed the linear trend and relationships with key climate teleconnections. The past century was characterized by an increase in drought coverage during the warm portion of the year almost exclusively as a result of climatic warming. In recent decades, a significant increase in the drought coverage occurred earlier in the year, during the spring season, primarily as a function of warming, but in combination with a decline in precipitation for a significant portion of the basin. The El Ni o (La Ni a) phase of the El Ni o-Southern...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Colorado River Basin, International Journal of Climatology, drought, teleconnection, trends