Climate Change Not To Blame For 2012 Drought, Say Government Scientists

The Central Great Plains Drought of 2012 was not a result of climate change, according to a report released on Thursday by scientists from five government agencies.

As evidence of their decision, the report points to a complete lack of even semi-gradual build-up to the event. Instead, the report states, the drought "developed suddenly, and did not appear to be just a progression or continuation of the prior year's record drought that occurred over the southern Great Plains, but appeared to be a discrete extreme event that developed over the Central United States."

The real cause, the scientists say, was the failure of moist Gulf of Mexico air to stream northward during late spring because cyclone and frontal activity were pulled "unusually" northward.

As a result, summertime storms were less frequent and, when they did occur, they produced lower-than-average rainfall.

"This is one of those events that comes along once every couple hundreds of years," said the report's lead author and NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling, according to the Huffington Post. "Climate change was not a significant part, if any, of the event."

In all, the 2012 drought's precipitation defecits were the most severe ever measured in the United States since the introduction of official recordings in 1895. This includes the summers of 1934 and 1936, which took place at the height of the Dust Bowl.

Further, this period of prolonged dryness, combined with above-average temperatures, led to the largest area of contiguous drought measured since the U.S. Drought Monitor began in 2000: by early September, nearly three-fourths of the United States was affected in varying degrees.

In all, the report states that by July 2012 the drought had caused as much as $12 billion in estimated losses, not only due to crop failure, but curtailment of commerce on major rivers as well.

Scientists further fear that long-term effects may arise due to the depletion of water reserves and livestock that could be felt for years to come.