As Climate Catastrophe Looms, New York City Declares Drought Warning

We’re in hassle.

The Sky Is Falling

New York Metropolis has declared its first drought warning since 2002, including to the lengthy checklist of portentous climate-related occasions afflicting the US and world extra incessantly, and forcefully, than ever earlier than in recorded historical past.

Floridians lately endured Hurricane Milton, which one meteorologist described initially as reaching the “mathematical restrict of what Earth’s ambiance over this ocean water can produce.” On the West aspect of the US, a minimum of 28 individuals have been killed this summer time in a lethal heatwave, a byproduct of what might grow to be the most well liked 12 months ever recorded. The final “hottest 12 months,” unsettlingly, was 2023.

All that — to not point out the Massive Apple’s new drought warning — soften right into a flashing signal as world leaders on the COP29 local weather summit: that absent an implausibly radical reshaping of humankind’s actions on Earth, issues are solely going to worsen.

Rain or Shine

New York Metropolis’s drought advisory — which additionally impacts a number of New York State counties — doesn’t include any necessary restrictions, although residents are urged to preserve water.

That stated, a drought advisory is not any small factor. It is the ultimate step earlier than a drought emergency, which New York final skilled in 2002. And if the climate would not relent, an emergency could possibly be inevitable. 

“The continuing and historic lack of rainfall, each within the metropolis and within the upstate watershed the place our reservoirs are positioned, has grow to be extra vital,” stated New York Metropolis chief local weather officer Rohit T. Aggarwala in a press release

“Local weather change precipitated an exceptionally heat fall, resulting in our reservoir system being at solely 63% capability,” added New York State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar. “As New Yorkers all the time do in a disaster, we’re coming collectively to face this problem.”

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