New research suggests an end in sight for the megadrought gripping the Colorado River Basin — and even a “partial” recovery for the major waterway after decades of dwindling flows.
Researchers with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, published their findings in the Journal of Climate earlier this month.
“The chances are better than not that we’ll improve our situation,” said Martin Hoerling, who spent more than three decades as a meteorologist in NOAA’s Physical Sciences Laboratory in Boulder and is now a lecturer at the University of Colorado.
The new analysis suggests that natural cycles for precipitation are expected to swing into a wet cycle, potentially restoring flows in the drought-stricken waterway. But due to the 20 percent decrease in flows in recent decades, increases in precipitation would create only a “partial” recovery.
