Climate change in Mexico: drought will hit the country in early 2022

In the coming months, some states in Mexico may encounter dehydration problems As alarming as the one that occurred at the beginning of 2021. This is what was warned by the researcher from the Institute Atmospheric sciences and climate change From UNAM, Cristian Dominguez Sarmiento, who said that these conditions will mainly result from La Niña phenomenon.

“Since October of this year, the World Meteorological Organization has announced that we are in ‘La Niña’ conditions and it is expected that, over the coming months, we will develop from moderate to severe, so that we can once again get drought conditions From the north to the center of the country. The expert explained that the story that occurred in December 2020 and January-April 2021 could be repeated.

This climatic event consists of anomalies in the extremely cold temperatures that are recorded at the surface of the sea Tropical Pacific It is part of a natural phenomenon called El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), for its English acronym.

provokes ‘La Niña’ Lots of evaporation and little clouds, while causing radiation to enter directly into the Mexican territory. This reduces the possibility of precipitation, although fortunately, Rainfall that have been recorded in recent months have been very useful as they have allowed storage levels to be restored.

“This rainy season (June-October) has been good for the country, because we did it full dams We are ready for what lies ahead in the next season (December 2021 – May 2022); The researcher, from the Department of Atmospheric Sciences, noted that if we had less rainfall than would normally be expected, we would experience drought conditions.

Until October 18th 75 dams at 100 percent, 64 has 75 to 100 percent; 41 more, from 50 to 75 percent, and only three are less than 50 percent, according to reports by the National Water Commission (Conagwa). Total storage was 0.9 percent above the average number for this date.

In addition, the main three Cutzamala-El Bosque System, Valle de Bravo and Villa Victoria, which make up an important part of the Valley of Mexico metropolitan area, are at 69.4 percent.

some tropical cyclones that made landfall, as well as the remnants of the intense storms that occur during the North American monsoon and other tropical phenomena that allowed this recovery, added the Doctor of Earth Sciences.

However, he noted, maintaining these water levels also depends on Regional management Made by decision makers about water resources.

“It could happen that in an area that has 100 per cent filling of the dam, water release to reduce it to 75 percent,” for example a specialist whose lines of research include tropical meteorology, climate modeling, and hydrometeorological hazards.

He also stated that according to Konagawa, it is estimated that 14.2 percent of the national fluid is dedicated to human consumption and 76.7 percent for Agriculture and Livestock.

In mid-April 2021, the expert continued, various regions of the country near the border with the United States exhibited severe and/or exceptional drought conditions, and in some dams there were “red spots” because they contained less than 50 percent water.

What is La Niña?

La Niña consists of a climate event caused by an extreme cold temperature anomaly that is recorded over the surface of the tropical Pacific Ocean and is part of a natural phenomenon called the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO, for short).

La Niña is the negative (cold) phase, while the warm phase is El Niño, which generates very high temperatures in the tropical Pacific and also leads to changes in winds globally.

The university scientist noted that the El Niño phenomenon (ENSO) was discovered in the early twentieth century, and since then its impact on the global climate has been studied. The interesting thing, he added, is to take advantage of the information provided by current climate predictions so that authorities can make science-based decisions about how they will manage water use, in order to avoid havoc in people’s lives and communities.

Citizens are also responsible for optimizing resource use and preventing leakages; He concluded by applying techniques that allow it to capture rainwater such as “water harvesting” that can be used for cleaning tasks.

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