Where ‘day-zero droughts’ could happen as soon as this decade

Lake Mead in April 2023 had receded dramatically due to a megadrought and decades over overuse. Will Lanzoni/CNN

Many parts of world are predicted to endure “day-zero droughts,” periods of extreme and unprecedented water scarcity , which could happen as soon as this decade in certain hotspots including parts of North America, the Mediterranean and southern Africa, according to a new study.

It’s well known that climate change, driven by burning fossil fuels, is throwing the global water cycle off balance and causing scarcity. What’s much less clear is when and where extreme water shortages will hit. The new research helps provide answers and some of them are surprising, said Christian Franzke, a climate scientist at Pusan National University in South Korea and an author of the stud