Drought now grips more than half of the nation

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By JIM SUHR and STEVE KARNOWSKI

WALTONVILLE, Ill. (AP) - The nation's widest drought in decades is spreading, with more than half of the continental United States now in some stage of drought and most of the rest enduring abnormally dry conditions.

Only in the 1930s and the 1950s has a drought covered more land, according to federal figures released Monday. So far, there's little risk of a Dust Bowl-type catastrophe, but crop losses could mount if rain doesn't come soon.

In its monthly drought report, the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., announced that 55 percent of the country was in a moderate to extreme drought at the end of June. The parched conditions expanded last month in the West, the Great Plains and the Midwest, fueled by the 14th warmest and 10th driest June on record, the report said.

Topsoil has turned dry while "crops, pastures and rangeland have deteriorated at a rate rarely seen in the last 18 years," the report said.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120716/DA029B6O3.html

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Boats sit on the dry, cracked bottom in a dry cove at Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, Ind., Monday, July 16, 2012. The reservoir is down nearly 6 feet from normal levels and being lowered 1 foot every five days to provide water for Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

[Sherman A1]

1. I was reading the WSJ this morning before work & it had an article about The Mississippi

River being very low South of Memphis. Barges are having to be loaded lighter in order to make passage.

This is not a good year in many respects.

I would suggest that everyone take time over the next few weeks to stock up on canned goods as grocery prices are simply going to skyrocket due to the drought & excessive heat in the Midwest.

[Kalidurga]

2. I blame Rick Perry...

when he started praying the drought was mostly in Texas. Now half the country. If he doesn't stop it's going to start looking like the equator around here.

[Downwinder]

3. Well, they wanted the1950s back.

Better get out the Rain Dancers and silver iodide burners again.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

4. Is there any alternative? At least one city in the United States (Tampa Bay) uses desalination.

It's not free or cheap, but it works.

Saudi Arabia has also enlarged its water desalination capacity using high-tech green technology and it produces more than 24 million cubic meters of water per day.
http://hir.harvard.edu/pressing-change/saudi-arabia-and-desalination-0

Desalinated water, of course, would have no value to inland resevoirs like the one in Noblesville, Ind unless there was a way to transport the water. In the past, we built the Erie Canal and even the Panama Canal. Plus the energy companies currently use lengthy pipelines to transport oil and gas. As expensive as it would be, it would be possible to desalinate water and transport it inland. Saudi Arabia can do this. If we are going to have permanent climate change, maybe we should consider it. Maybe those in Indianapolis who rely upon the Morse Reservoir, and others who rely upon other reservoirs, should consider it.

[Zoeisright]

5. I once asked my father-in-law why no one makes water.

He said it's too expensive. I doubt that will be the case for much longer.

[Odin2005]

6. How long before the 30's-style dust-storms come?

[Nihil]

7. Maybe they'll put the wildfires out?