A casual reader, unversed in the climatology of the desert southwest, after reading Overpeck’s comments in the WAPO article would easily come away with the impression that the current drought is somehow linked to global warming and this is the beginning of AGW climate change in Arizona (my girlfriend, a former resident of New Mexico, certainly did).

Being familiar with Mantua’s research I kinda rolled my eyes and chalked it up to sloppy editing. Especially after following your link to Overpeck’s report from last year. It very clearly denotes that “(t)here is no persistent long-term upward or downward trend in precipitation during the last century.”

So how can he now credibly infer “current drought and weather disruptions signal what is to come over the next century”?

I should think a clarification is in order.