Extreme Western Drought Might Solve A Few Old Murder Cases

Lake Mead along the Colorado River has receded so
much from drought that a body was found in a barrel.
Police suspect the murder happened in the late 1970s
or early 1980s. The lake has gotten so low the 
barrel has only now been discovered 
Photo from KLSA 

UPDATE:

Sure enough, as Lake Mead's water continues to recede in that extreme western drought, another body has been discovered. 

A couple of women paddling in the low lake found the skeletal remains on a sand bar. 

Unlike the previous find, officials don't think this one involves foul play. Still it will be investigated.

If the lake keeps receding, I wonder how many more long lost bodies/people will be found?

PREVIOUS MESSAGE 

That punishing drought in the West has brought storied Lake Mead to its lowest levels on record.  Possible water shortages loom for large portions of the West Coast, the southern and central Rockies and the Desert Southwest as no real drought relief seems to be in the offing. 

It'll be a long, hot and rather scary summer in this area.

f you're stretching for any hint of a bright side to this drought, here's one.  It's possible low water levels could held solve some cold murder cases.

For instance, the water recently receded so much that a rusted barrel emerged from the water. Inside were the skeletal remains of a murder victim.  Police said judging from clothing and other evidence, the person was murdered and dumped into Lake Mead sometimes during the 1980s Las Vegas Metro Police homicide Lt. Ray Spencer told television station KLAS.  

"'It's going to be a very difficult case,' Spencer said. 'I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains.'

That, unfortunately makes sense. Lake Mead is only 40 miles or so from Las Vegas.  That city is famous for lots of things, including gambling murders and mob hits.   Lake Mead would be an incredibly convenient place to dump a body, never to be seen again.

Unless the region were hit by the worst drought in at least1,200 years, which is exactly what is happening now.  Yep, I said 1,200 years. The last time it was this bad in the west was around the year 1000.

This mega-drought, defined as a drought lasting a couple to a few decades is influence by climate change. 

As Scientific American reports, there probably would be a drought going on now in the West without climate change, but the burning of fossil fuels has made things much worse than they otherwise would be.

"'It probably wouldn't even be a continuous drought,' said Benjamin Cook, a NASA climate scientist and co-author of the new study, published in Nature Climate Change. 'We still would have had a drought. It sill would have been reasonably bad. But it would be nowhere near the record-breaking even that we're seeing right now.'"

Back in the Colorado River basin, which includes Lake Mead, 98.3 percent of the basin is currently in drought and 26.6 percent of it is in extreme or exceptional drought. More than 80 percent of the basin has been in drought since July, 2020, according to NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System.

Which means this will soon turn into a crisis far worse than discovered homicide victims in receding lakes.