A Drought for the Ages Spreads Across U.S.

[Quixote1818]

DENVER (June 8) - Drought, a fixture in much of the West for nearly a decade, now covers more than one-third of the continental USA. And it's spreading.

As summer starts, half the nation is either abnormally dry or in outright drought from prolonged lack of rain that could lead to water shortages, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly index of conditions. Welcome rainfall last weekend from Tropical Storm Barry brought short-term relief to parts of the fire-scorched Southeast. But up to 50 inches of rain is needed to end the drought there, and this is the driest spring in the Southeast since record-keeping began in 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

Coast to coast, the drought's effects are as varied as the landscapes:

In central California, ranchers are selling cattle or trucking them out of state as grazing grass dries up. In Southern California's Antelope Valley, rainfall at just 15% of normal erased the spring bloom of California poppies.

In South Florida, Lake Okeechobee , America's second-largest body of fresh water, fell last week to a record low — an average 8.89 feet above sea level. So much lake bed is dry that 12,000 acres of it caught fire last month. Saltwater intrusion threatens to contaminate municipal wells for Atlantic coastal towns as fresh groundwater levels drop.


More: http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/a-drought-for-the-ages-spreads-across-us/20070610103409990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Here is a map:

[RC]

1. Sure, what ever you say.

These were all taken yesterday.













http://rc.smugmug.com/gallery/2977733#161138372

[NJCher]

4. where is this, RC?

Cher

[RC]

12. Fargo ND

[sandnsea]

14. Which is not on the drought map

It's abnormally cool and cloudy where I am too. Which doesn't mean anything except that it looks to me like we're in a La Nina.

[devilgrrl]

5. Yeah, it's raining where you are which must mean it's happening everywhere as well

Sure, whatever you say. :sarcasm:

[Quixote1818]

7. As they say, global warming will bring more drought and more flooding

We had a rare tornado between Albuquerque and Santa Fe yesterday. It went right across the highway. They have had several tornado's around the Las Cruces area in the last few years. I have lived in New Mexico for almost 40 years and we NEVER use to get tornado's around Santa Fe and Las Cruces. The Eastern part of the state always gets tornado's but NEVER the central part.

It's been very weird here that past few years.

[johnaries]

8. Maybe where YOU are. Where I am..

I went to Fall Creek Falls last week in a section of the map labled "extreme". I have never seen the Falls and the pools so low. The Falls were a trickle. The flowers on the bushes were dried up. Hell, my roses in my front yard have dried and died on the vine ( I live in Nashville, in the "severe" section).
I have never seen conditions like this in my lifetime. The little bit of rain we got this week was sucked up into the dry ground so quickly it was like it never rained at all. So far for the year we are 11 inches below normal.

[trumad]

15. Dude---that was so lame.

[Odin2005]

18. I live only a few blocks from the Red in downtown Moorhead.

This is the worst flooding I've seen since '97. It's been absurdly wet here this spring.

[NJCher]

2. future map

Hmmm, reminds me of this "future map" envisioned by Lori Toyes, who, if I remember correctly, saw it in a dream:





Cher

p.s. there's a chart of future maps here:

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/profecias/esp_profecia_mapas.htm

Kind of interesting to see similarities and differences.

[Rex]

3. I've seen more rain in my area (South Texas) this year than I can

remember. We were in a drought for at least 5 years. Looks like climate change is upon us.

[Warpy]

10. New Mexico got wet last summer

after a winter without any measurable rain or snowfall in most areas. We canceled almost 10 years of drought during a prolonged monsoon season, then had record snowfall last winter with 18 inches out of one storm here in the valley (and not a city snowplow to be had). This spring has also been wet.

Whether or not this change into increased moisture holds is anyone's guess. My own guess is that it will keep oscillating between extremes on its own schedule, making things difficult for the state's farmers, ranchers and ski resort operators.

[Rex]

19. Weather patterns around the world seem to be going into extreme

limits, as we decide scale and rate them. Once extreme weather conditions, will become more often occurrences maybe here in the South Central part of the nation.

A few days in the past few months, the local area received around 6 inches of rain in my area in one day. Hard rains that evaporate into giant fronts and come back down sporadically.

One hell of a season, mildest May I've seen since I moved back here.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

6. Georgia is in a drought for sure - fires and water restrictions

Many days in Atlanta we can smell the fires from south Georgia that are evaporating acers upon acers of the Okefenokee. Home owners can only water outside a few days a week - except of course if you have new landscaping (loop hole). Business seem to be the exception - office complexes continue to water their landscape & golf courses are greener than ever. Haven't heard of any water restrictions on the argi-businesses which use the bulk of the water in Georgia.

[Quixote1818]

9. Hopefully the above normal tropical storm forecast will pull you all out of drought.

Or at least help.

[mahina]

11. Here in Hawaii too, with rainfall down 96% on two islands.

:scared:

[RC]

13. Which two islands?

[mahina]

16. Maui and the Big Island,

specifically Waimea area on the Big Island. And it sucks because so many people are on catchment there.
link with island wide data:
http://starbulletin.com/2007/06/09/news/story03.html

[rockymountaindem]

17. It was shit here for about seven years in Colorado Springs

but for the past two years things have been pretty good. My friend and I returned to one of our favorite hiking spots a few weeks ago to find that a creek which had been running next to nothing two years ago was close to overflowing this year. When it started to rain we even started worrying about flash floods.

I'm glad it's better on the front range, but too bad the crappy conditions had to move out farther west. One thing's for sure, the Pike's Peak region won't take water for granted again.