… It’s just the latest phase in a drought that has crushed the Southwest over the last two and a half decades: the driest period the region has seen in 1,200 years. Even the lashing rains of the atmospheric rivers that have swept over the Southwest in recent winters have done little to alleviate the trend. Drought, it seems, is here to stay for many more years. In fact, the current dry spell could last another two decades, according to a paper recently published in Nature. The results of their analysis, which relied on the data of over 500 climate simulations produced by world-leading research institutions, rewrite our understanding of one of the key climate systems controlling weather in the western United States.