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Related: About this forumSevere Drought warning for the US map
Its not just Californias problem. Nearly half of the contiguous U.S. is experiencing abnormally dry or drought conditions right now. The worst spots shown in the map above, colored in a deep red that represents exceptional drought, are in California, Nevada, Texas and Oklahoma. But the entire west and southwest are suffering.
The map is based on a report from May 6 provided by the United States Drought Monitor that includes data on climate, soil and water collected from more than 350 sources. It looks like our pals at NASAs Earth Observatory worked their magic to make the map more attractive and easier to read with a better ramped color scheme and less obtrusive state boundaries.
As scary as the map is, it doesnt convey the true severity of the situation because the impacts are cumulative from several years of drought, particularly in the southwest centered on Northern Texas. You can compare the last 10 years of conditions in May in the animation below.
http://www.wired.com/2014/05/drought-maps/
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Severe Drought warning for the US map (Original Post)
Ichingcarpenter
May 2014
OP
Oakenshield
(614 posts)1. Scariest thing is...
According to climatologists this abnormal weather we've been having is the new standard.
BumRushDaShow
(129,096 posts)2. Meanwhile
some of us along the I-95 corridor, have seen upwards of 200+% of normal with respect to rain.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)3. Pray harder.
doxydad
(1,363 posts)4. Unfortunately...
The worst of it is directly affecting the price of food due to no / poor harvests. But, there's no climate problem...just ask Hannity.
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)5. The Ogallala aquifer is fucked.
There is no turning back. Been predicting this for awhile (google my name and "Ogallala Aquifer" .
Omaha Steve
(99,660 posts)6. We had over 4 inches of rain with the tornados last week
We are still in the dry to low level category.
K&R!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)7. Hey, it's just where almost all our food is grown, so what's the problem?
pipoman
(16,038 posts)8. For perspective 1934