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CleanTechnica reports
The "flash drought" that came out of nowhere this summer in the US High Plains, afflicting Montana and the Dakotas the worst, has already destroyed more than half of this year's wheat crop, going by some recent field surveys. Considering that the region is now one of the top wheat-growing regions in the world, the damage is very notable.
These so-called flash droughts are expected to become considerably more common over the coming decades as the climate continues warming and weather patterns continue changing.
[...] Something that's interesting to note here is that 2011, only 6 years back, was actually one of the wettest years on record in eastern Montana. Those sorts of rapid swings between extreme precipitation and flooding on the one hand, and extreme flash droughts on the other, are only going to become more common from here on out. Eventually, most of the agriculture in the region will have to cease.
Grist calls this a Cereal Killer.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday August 10 2017, @05:29PM (1 child)
More common just like how hurricanes were supposed to be more common I guess
Hurricanes have become more common. [wunderground.com]
"... the number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes had increased 80% in the past 30 years."
However, you miss-state the scientific consensus on the issue.
"Though there is evidence both for and against the existence of a detectable anthropogenic signal in the tropical cyclone climate record to date, no firm conclusion can be made on this point."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 10 2017, @05:34PM
They have been changing the definitions of those categories so you are comparing apples to oranges, also the score depends on population density...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir%E2%80%93Simpson_scale [wikipedia.org]