United States' drought has 'extraordinary' reversal

[Snow Bird]

By Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
What a difference a rain makes. The nationwide drought that had farmers, communities and entire states fighting to conserve water has reversed in the most dramatic turnaround since federal scientists began keeping records.
More than 92% of the country is drought-free — the nation's best showing since 1999.

"The lack of drought is extraordinary," said Douglas Le Comte, a meteorologist with the federal Climate Prediction Center.


At the worst of the USA's most recent drought — in August 2007 — almost 50% of the country was in drought. Currently, about 7% of the country is in a drought, according to federal scientists. The only part of the USA in "extreme" drought is a small fraction of Hawaii.

In 2007, gigantic portions of the Southeast were in the worst drought in over a century, sparking water wars among Georgia, Alabama, and Florida.

"It was horrid," said Teresa Hammack of Mars Hill, N.C., whose springs ran dry in August 2007 at the height of the Southeast drought. Hammack's home relies entirely on underground springs as a source of water.

"Our springs are running rampant, with clean, fresh water," she said.

There have been less than half a dozen occasions since the late 1800s when drought has been as sparse as it is now, Le Comte said.

Gosh, more depressing news.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/drought/2010-02-16-drought-us-reversal_N.htm

[ChoralScholar]

1. I know one thing

my front yard looks like I live in a marsh.

We had several inches of rain sandwiched in between 4 and 7 inches of snow, respectively.

[tabatha]

2. So, what is your explanation for the reversal?

And can you explain the drought in Australia?

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/02/620009980/1

[Snow Bird]

4. You mean this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x230402

Looks to me like it's breaking.

[tabatha]

5. The drought has broken means that there was a prolonged drought.

What was the reason for it?

[Snow Bird]

6. Lack of rain for a few years?

Just a WAG. Kind of like the dust bowl years in the United States in the 1930's. Remember them?

Weather happens, Climate changes.

[HeresyLives]

7. Weather happens, climate doesn't change.

For about 10,000 years, tropical countries have remained tropical, and snowy countries have remained snowy.

That weather 'window' has allowed the human race to flourish.

When the arctic and the antarctic start to melt...I'd say we're in for some climate change.

So do the scientists.

[guardian]

10. "climate doesn't change"

Reallllllllllly?

Strike 1: Doomers say you can't use "Global "Warming" anymore because there hasn't been any warming in the last 15 years. Gee I guess the 'sophisticated' computer climate models missed that one too.

Strike 2: Now according to HeresyLives climate doesn't change. I guess you'll have to throw out that whole "Climate Change" term now. Did you get that snippet of wisdom from Peter Sinclair the cartoonist?

Strike 3: According to the recent Phil Jones interview there has been a slight decline in temperature since 2002 - present. And he predicts that in the short term he doesn't expect any significant warming either.



The only thing left for you Doomers will be to jump on the Mayan Calendar doomsday bandwagon. I bet 10 years from now all the Doomers will be saying "I never believed that" or "global warming was just a minor scientific discussion...it never made it into the mainstream". Start working on purging those history books now.

[tinrobot]

11. Again with Phil Jones....

You sure have a fetish with that guy.

Might want to read something other than the Daily Mail for your scientific analysis.

[guardian]

14. Does climate change or not?

Do you agree with HeresyLives that "climate doesn't change"?

[tinrobot]

15. Do you agree with the Daily Mail?

I was commenting on your post, not someone else's.

[guardian]

16. For this instance, this particular article: yes. n/t

[tinrobot]

17. If you're referring to the OP, it's a USA Today article.

[guardian]

18. Try to keep up

The subthread was referring to Phil Jones' recent comments and YOU asked me about the Daily Mail. Maybe you should switch to Sunshine Punch. I think the Slammin' Strawberry Kiwi is too strong for you.

[tinrobot]

20. I'm way ahead of you...

Relying on the Daily Mail for unbiased scientific data is not a very good idea. But, if you want to know about the latest sensational gossip or what Lady Ga Ga is wearing this week, the Daily Mail is very good at stuff like that.

Again, you might want to check the original BBC article which quotes Dr, Jones in context, or perhaps even dig a little deeper and read some actual scientific journals.

[NickB79]

25. Ironic you should mention the Dust Bowl in this discussion

Considering that it was a man-made event brought about by overplowing of the Great Plains and destruction of the native grasslands.

[kestrel91316]

3. Worse and longer droughts, worse floods, hotter highs, colder lows,

all these increasing extremes of weather fit perfectly with the predictions made by climatologists with respect to the impact of global warming.

YOUR point is???

[Nederland]

8. Increasing extremes of weather?

You mean, like hurricanes? :rofl:

http://www.leshatton.org/Documents/Data_Hurricanes_1946-2009.zip

[petronius]

13. No, he means extreme weather, like this:

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/06/extreme-weather-mother-nature-gone-bonkers/

(Hoping the mods will forgive a link to Fox News...)

[Nederland]

21. Really?

I give you a link to a compilation of NOAA data that definitively shows that the current frequency of extreme weather events is within historical norms, and you give me a link to a Fox News article?

Are you serious, or am I missing a sarcasm tag?

[petronius]

22. The point that you are missing is that hurricanes are not the only form of weather extreme,

and therefore Hatton's assessment does not "definitively shows that the current frequency of extreme weather events is within historical norms."

I chose the Fox article because it's actually pretty good (for Fox) and it struck me that it would be a familiar and perhaps trustworthy source for a certain subset of the posters around here...

[Nederland]

23. Fair Enough

I'll be happy to review any NOAA data or peer reviewed papers you find that say extreme weather events are occurring more often than they have in the past. And no, FoxNews articles don't count.

[petronius]

24. Ooh, snarky! I'd be more impressed with your snark if the lowly Fox article

hadn't been all it took to sink your earlier response.

However, if you really intend to do some reading, here is a small sampling of peer-reviewed publications which show increases (and decreases at the cold end) in the frequency of extreme events consistent with global warming:


Peterson TC (Peterson, Thomas C.)1, Zhang XB (Zhang, Xuebin)4, Brunet-India M (Brunet-India, Manola)2, Vazquez-Aguirre JL (Vazquez-Aguirre, Jorge Luis)3
Changes in North American extremes derived from daily weather data
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES Volume: 113 Issue: D7 Article Number: D07113 Published: APR 15 2008


Kysely J (Kysely, Jan)
Recent severe heat waves in central Europe: how to view them in a long-term prospect?
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Pages: 89-109 Published: JAN 2010


Pederson GT (Pederson, Gregory T.)1,2, Graumlich LJ (Graumlich, Lisa J.)2, Fagre DB (Fagre, Daniel B.)3, Kipfer T (Kipfer, Todd)4, Muhlfeld CC (Muhlfeld, Clint C.)3
A century of climate and ecosystem change in Western Montana: what do temperature trends portend?
CLIMATIC CHANGE Volume: 98 Issue: 1-2 Pages: 133-154 Published: JAN 2010


Kunz, M; Sander, J; Kottmeier, C
Recent trends of thunderstorm and hailstorm frequency and their relation to atmospheric characteristics in southwest Germany
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, 29 (15): 2283-2297 DEC 2009


Usbeck, T; Wohlgemuth, T; Dobbertin, M; et al.
Increasing storm damage to forests in Switzerland from 1858 to 2007
AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY, 150 (1): 47-55 JAN 15 2010

[lapfog_1]

9. This person has no point

except to use recent weather events as "proof" that global climate change isn't happening.

Just like Glenn Beck and the other wing nut anti-science (actually anti-intellectual) idiots.

They would rather look out their windows, see some snow (in February!!! oh my gosh) and declare that Global Warming is a hoax than actually look at peer reviewed data (oceans becoming more acidic, less salty, arctic ice is much much thinner and disappears more completely and more rapidly in the summer thaw, etc, etc).

It doesn't matter, the planet does NOT GIVE A DAMN if we believe the climate that sustains 6+ billion people is changing or not, the change is happening anyway (despite any belief system). And, at this point, it's likely that we aren't really intelligent enough (as a species) to fix things. 100 years from now, long after this idiot (and you and me) are dead, our grandchildren will wonder "what the fuck were they thinking???" (those that survive the now likely mass extinction of probably 60 to 80 percent of the human race).

It's not just climate, it's water, it's oil, it's energy, it's raw material, we are consuming it all as if there is no tomorrow (because, I guess, for us there won't be a tomorrow).

Sigh.

[guardian]

19. Worse and longer droughts, worse floods, hotter highs, colder lows

Yeah we get the picture: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

[tinrobot]

12. If you melt the ice caps, the water has to go somehwere.