The Grand Canyon Fires and the Mega Drought

The closing of the north rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona for the entire rest of the 2025 season was not the news that tourists to one of the country’s most visited National Park wanted to hear.

But the wildfires burning at or near the park’s North Rim have grown to more than 45,000 consuming an area of land the size of Washington D.C according to the reports.

And with no signs of containment any time during any time close to the near future.

And speaking of the future, a new report this week in a respected scientific journal came out that says the megadrought in America’s Southwest that has been going on for 25 years and has fueled fires, “sapped water supplies, ravaged farms and ranches” may last for decades.

The report says that not in 12 centuries has the southwest region been so dry for so long,

They blame it on what they call “a pattern of Pacific Ocean temperatures that is “stuck” because of global warming,”

They point to the El Niño that usually leads to wetter winters in the Southwest…but was not the case during the most recent El Niño, from 2023 to last year.

You add this weather related event to all the other unusual weather related events in recent years, from flash floods to giant tornadoes and hurricanes, it might make you wonder what Mother Nature is up to.

(Photo Getty Images)