Periods of extreme drought can be a normal part of global climate patterns, but rising temperatures may now be changing some regional climates for good
Environment
28 October 2022
Exceptionally severe and persistent droughts – or megadroughts – have wreaked havoc on human societies for thousands of years. A megadrought in northern China between AD 1627 and 1643, for instance, caused a famine that killed an estimated 20 million people and may have sparked a revolt that toppled the Ming Dynasty.