Climate & water
Evidence-led explainers on climate & water, with every figure sourced.
Drought is not one thing. It is four, they arrive in sequence, and confusing them is why "the rain has ended the drought" is so often wrong.
Most of the way climate change is experienced is through water: too much, too little, at the wrong time, or the wrong temperature.
ENSO does not change how much rain falls globally. It changes where it falls — and the pattern is repeatable enough to be useful for water planning months ahead.
The immediate danger of a flood is the water’s force. The longer danger is what it carries — sewage, fuel, chemicals and everything a submerged landscape releases.
A wildfire rarely contaminates a water supply while it burns. The damage arrives with the first heavy rain on a burned catchment, often months later.