Is “Climate Change” Causing the Western Drought?

[John Reece]

From POWERLINE:

POSTED ON AUGUST 18, 2014 BY JOHN HINDERAKER

IS “CLIMATE CHANGE” CAUSING THE WESTERN DROUGHT?

Much of California, and other areas in the West, are enduring a severe drought. In February, President Obama decreed that the drought is the product of man-made “climate change.”

This is a good example of a proposition that should be self-evident, but is generally ignored: you can’t talk intelligently about climate change unless you know something about climate history. Which, not surprisingly, Barack Obama doesn’t. The reality is that California is no stranger to drought, and hasn’t been for millennia. This chart from Anthony Watts, covers the American West beginning in 800 A.D., based on tree rings: