Climatic variability: Past,present, and future

Paleoclimatic studies help us to gain valuable perspectives and insights into the nature and possible origins of present-day climatic variations that are beyond the reach of conventional historical weather data to provide. In this informal paper, the author lends some personal perspectives on the importance of paleoclimatic studies for the purpose of assessing the future of our climate, and illustrates this by focusing in particular on how tree-ring analyses may elucidate the chronology of changing risks of past and future outbreaks of major droughts in the American West.