Mexico Hit By Lowest Rainfall In 68 Years

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico is suffering from its driest year in 68 years, killing crops and cattle in the countryside and forcing the government to slow the flow of water to the crowded capital.

Below-average rainfall since last year has left about 80 of Mexico's 175 largest reservoirs less than half full, said Felipe Arreguin, a senior official at the Conagua commission, which manages the country's water supply.

The El Nino weather phenomenon, a warming of the seas in the Pacific Ocean, has induced a dry spell in South America and is likely partly to blame for Mexico's lack of rain, experts say.

Mexico's sugar crop was harvested before the drought set in, and coffee farms are mostly in unaffected areas.
Mexico Hit By Lowest Rainfall In 68 Years

U.S. and Mexican researchers have linked a severe, 15-year drought in Mexico to human activity, especially the clearing of land for grazing and the expansion of cities, University of Arkansas officials announced today. President Obama travels to Mexico on Thursday, where he is expected to discuss climate change and the economy with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Researchers used the tree-ring record and other data to reconstruct Mexico's climate for the past 500 years. They determined that the decade from 1994 to 2003 was the driest period except for two prior droughts, in the 1950s and 1560s.

"Droughts come and go, but the researchers believe that this drought in particular may have a human-generated component on both a regional and global scale," said Melissa Lutz Blouin, director of science and research communications for the university.

By emphasizing land use, the study stresses that greenhouse gases are not the only contributor to global warming ... Global warming models produced by scientists suggest that wet areas will become wetter, and subtropical arid areas will get drier. Therefore dry spells such as the one experienced in Mexico may persist longer and be more severe.

Scientists link record drought in Mexico to global warming, human activity