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Western states have faced a decadeslong megadrought—the worst in more than a thousand years.

They found that this megadrought wouldn’t be nearly as severe without global warming, estimating that 42% of its severity was attributable to higher temperatures.

Benjamin Cook, a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies who co-authored the megadrought research, said the methods in the latest study are sound and the findings are similar, though he also said there is considerable uncertainty in the future projections the scientists used.

When might the megadrought end?

Three years ago, climate researchers shocked drought-weary Californians when they revealed that the American West was experiencing its driest 22-year period in 1,200 years, and that this severe megadrought was being intensified by global warming.