A visit to Arizona last year brought this home…When on a pink Jeep tour of the Cococino National Forest near Sedona, I asked our guide whether the area had seen a reversal of fortune on rainfall, and he said that the green we saw was only from a recent reprieve of some precipitation, otherwise the mostly brown vegetation was from the 20-year mega drought, with average annual rainfall 75% below average.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/arizonas-dry-future-begins-as-colorado-river-shrinks-11650718801