Widespread drought

[Texashiker]

Something that is bothering me in this debate about climate change, is the droughts. People are talking about global warming right and left, but nobody seems to be talking about drought.

A local lake, lake Sam Rayburn is about 9 feet low. The county I live in has been under a burn ban for several weeks. Texas as a whole is drying up. We have had more wildfires this year then I can ever remember.

Then, I found this article on the BBC.

Soils of UK and Europe drying out

So its not just Texas that is having drought issues, its all over the world.

Something to be concerned about, this drought is going to affect the price of food in the next few months.

Drought could drive up prices of food

There is a lot of talk about ice caps melting, and sea level rising, but our droughts are right here and now. As the price of fuel drives up the price of food, so will having to pump more water into the fields. There was a segment on the local news about rice farmers having to conserve water because we are not getting enough rain to keep the fields flooded.

 

[spidey07]

And yet we set an all time record for rain in April in my state, so I'm canceling you out!

Also, these are all just affects of La Nina. All part of the normal cycle.

 

[Schadenfroh]

At the same time, we are having floods in other parts of the country:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=136128917

As residents waited for the river to reach its peak as early as Monday night — several inches short of the record mark set in 1937 — those downstream in Mississippi and Louisiana evacuated prisoners and diverted water from the river in an attempt to stave off catastrophic flooding that has a long history of hitting the area.

Also, Tornadoes outbreaks...
http://www.businessweek.com/news/20...ak-may-be-worst-in-u-s-history-noaa-says.html

The tornado outbreak that killed at least 327 people in the Southeast last week may have been the largest in U.S. history, with an estimated 305 twisters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Shaping up to be a bad year...

 

[sMiLeYz]

And yet we set an all time record for rain in April in my state, so I'm canceling you out!

Also, these are all just affects of La Nina. All part of the normal cycle.

Warm Air holds more precipitation...

Fact is droughts, severe weather systems are just going to intensify and accelerate with Global Climate change.

 

[Texashiker]

And yet we set an all time record for rain in April in my state, so I'm canceling you out!

Is your state a major food producing area?

 

[piasabird]

The USA has drought spells all the time. Texas, Nevada and the surrounding area is mostly desert anyway. People have been overpopulating the southwest for a long time. It has always been a dry climate and can only support so many people. Most of the southwest is fed by underground water and irrigation from the Colorado river and dams.

People need a reality check.

 

[sMiLeYz]

The USA has drought spells all the time. Texas, Nevada and the surrounding area is mostly desert anyway. People have been overpopulating the southwest for a long time. It has always been a dry climate and can only support so many people. Most of the southwest is fed by underground water and irrigation from the Colorado river and dams.

People need a reality check.

Oh, so overpopulation is causing the worst droughts and wildfires in Texas in the last 45 years?

 

[Texashiker]

The USA has drought spells all the time. Texas, Nevada and the surrounding area is mostly desert anyway.

You should do your research before you post such fail statements.

Parts of Texas (especially east Texas), that historically receive plenty of rain fall, have been under on-and-off drought conditions for the past few years.

In 2009 Lake Travis went dry, it dried up to nothing.

In 2001 or 2002, Dallas area went something like 45 days and never got below 100 degrees. The north east Texas region was under a drought at the same time. These are areas of Texas that normally get plenty of rainfall.

~~~ EDIT ~~~

If you want to know how much rain east Texas usually gets, look up LongLeaf Pine. Pine trees do not grow to be almost 4 feet across in a desert.

 

[Thump553]

More accurately global warming is really man made climate change (that's why Rush and his dittoheads always get my goat claiming every blizzard is proof there is no global warming). Parts of the earth are getting wetter, parts drier, parts warmer, parts colder. To be perfectly honest its difficult to tell in the short term what is normal variation versus what is not.

Texas, New Mexico and part of Nevada are all in substantial drought right now. And I don't envy you your fires at all-I saw a pictorial map of the wildfires across Texas and there sure were a lot. Question-I flew over western Texas and was struck by how much irrigated farming was going on out there. Has the water consumption in Texas gone up drastically in recent years?

Fortunately here in New England about all we can complain about right now is how it always seems to rain on the weekend. But hell we'll still complain.

 

[Lemon law]

Is it natural cycles or man made global warming? Either way, the jet streams move, some areas get more drought and others get more than normal rain. It still evens out in the end 2-5 year or so short term. Because if the amount of moisture that evaporates from Oceans is a rough constant, where the moisture falls as rain, is largely dependent on the moved Jet streams and Ocean currents.

 

[Texashiker]

Has the water consumption in Texas gone up drastically in recent years?

Yes, mostly in the Dallas region, and west Texas.

In southeast Texas we have major rivers and a shallow water table that helps keep our cities and farms supplied with water. But the drought is starting to affect how much water the farmers can use.

Dallas is getting into a situation where they are going to need more sources of fresh water. There was a lawsuit a few months ago where Dallas tried to sue a smaller town for water rights to a lake. The judge threw out the suit saying Dallas had no claim to the water.

From what I understand, there are some plans to build another lake just below Dallas, which will help keep the city supplied with fresh water.

In places like Houston, Beaumont and Orange, there are the San Jacinto, Sabine and Neches Rivers that keep the area supplied with water.

The areas with the greatest population growth are having the most problems with water. Growth is outstripping supply - except maybe in places like Houston where there should be plenty of water.

 

[NeoV]

"And yet we set an all time record for rain in April in my state, so I'm canceling you out!

Also, these are all just affects of La Nina. All part of the normal cycle."

nevermind folks, Spidey has it all figured out, nothing to see here.............

what part of the normal cycle is our output again?

"A natural change of 100ppm normally takes 5,000 to 20,000 years. The recent increase of 100ppm has taken just 120 years)."

 

[dainthomas]

Oh, so overpopulation is causing the worst droughts and wildfires in Texas in the last 45 years?

Umm, don't live in a desert?

Portland's had above average rain this year, and the snowpack in the mountains is nuts. Mt Bachelor has something like 180 inches on the ground right now and will be open until the end of May.

 

[spidey07]

"And yet we set an all time record for rain in April in my state, so I'm canceling you out!

Also, these are all just affects of La Nina. All part of the normal cycle."

nevermind folks, Spidey has it all figured out, nothing to see here.............

what part of the normal cycle is our output again?

"A natural change of 100ppm normally takes 5,000 to 20,000 years. The recent increase of 100ppm has taken just 120 years)."

Maybe because I read an article about it just today?

"La Niña brings flood risk and drought to the West"
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/05/09/1657857/la-nina-brings-flood-risk-and.html

And despite all the wet weather in the Rockies and Sierra Nevada, parts of eastern Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona are in severe drought and gearing up for what is forecast as a bad fire season. In New Mexico, some 400 fires, driven by relentless winds, have already raced across 315,000 acres.

Credit – or blame – for the extreme weather goes mostly to a strong La Niña, which is associated with cooler than normal water temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean and an atmospheric flow that’s causing drier than normal conditions in the Southwest and wetter than normal in the Northwest..

 

[Texashiker]

Umm, don't live in a desert?

Why do you think Texas is a desert?

Pictures taken a few miles from my house.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

All we need is a good tropical depression and it will resolve the drought issues in the gulf region of Texas

 

[Jaskalas]

Something that is bothering me in this debate about climate change, is the droughts. People are talking about global warming right and left, but nobody seems to be talking about drought.

A local lake, lake Sam Rayburn is about 9 feet low. The county I live in has been under a burn ban for several weeks. Texas as a whole is drying up. We have had more wildfires this year then I can ever remember.

Then, I found this article on the BBC.

Soils of UK and Europe drying out

So its not just Texas that is having drought issues, its all over the world.

Something to be concerned about, this drought is going to affect the price of food in the next few months.

Drought could drive up prices of food

There is a lot of talk about ice caps melting, and sea level rising, but our droughts are right here and now. As the price of fuel drives up the price of food, so will having to pump more water into the fields. There was a segment on the local news about rice farmers having to conserve water because we are not getting enough rain to keep the fields flooded.

Global Warming:

Ice Caps Melting:

Sea Level:

But yeah, La Nina's droughts in Texas sure are nasty. Were you trying to tell us your present weather meant something? The Sierra Nevada snow pack is at record levels this year, and the Mississippi is having historic floods.

Hell, you could say weather has a history of happening! That might come as a surprise.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Warm Air holds more precipitation...

Fact is droughts, severe weather systems are just going to intensify and accelerate with Global Climate change.

So what caused the dust bowl of the 1920s? Was that global warming???
You do understand that the term Global Warming was dropped because the facts couldn't backup the claims, thus Climate Change was coined because it's a term that is valid becaues the climate changes year round. They're called Seasons.

Though this is the time of year where people will be saying, it's so hot, wah wah wah, No shit, it's turning into summer, the hottest part of the year.
I keep hearing people complain wbout how bad it is now, and that it's so hot.
I can remember growing up when we had summers where we had 100+ days over 100 degrees.

 

[DesiPower]

And yet we set an all time record for rain in April in my state, so I'm canceling you out!

Also, these are all just affects of La Nina. All part of the normal cycle.

At the same time, we are having floods in other parts of the country:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=136128917


*Snip*

Excess rainfall and flood cause more drought, if you remember, UK had some major flooding in recent times.

 

[Fern]

Widespread drought

I'm not sure how "widespread" this drought really is.

Looks like the Western/Pacific states have no drought.

The Eastern states don't either.

Looks like you're in some sort of "donut hole".

I don't know when you usually get your rain, but it's still early in the year.

And sometimes lakes drying up have more to do with other factors - higher water usage draining the acquifer or development changing runoff/water flow.

Hopefully you'll soon get rain (you can have some of ours here out East, we're flooding)

Fern

 

[a777pilot]

Something that is bothering me in this debate about climate change, is the droughts. People are talking about global warming right and left, but nobody seems to be talking about drought.

A local lake, lake Sam Rayburn is about 9 feet low. The county I live in has been under a burn ban for several weeks. Texas as a whole is drying up. We have had more wildfires this year then I can ever remember.

Then, I found this article on the BBC.

Soils of UK and Europe drying out

So its not just Texas that is having drought issues, its all over the world.

Something to be concerned about, this drought is going to affect the price of food in the next few months.

Drought could drive up prices of food

There is a lot of talk about ice caps melting, and sea level rising, but our droughts are right here and now. As the price of fuel drives up the price of food, so will having to pump more water into the fields. There was a segment on the local news about rice farmers having to conserve water because we are not getting enough rain to keep the fields flooded.

...or you could study the world droughts of the past few thousand years. Better yet, do a 30,000 year study. LOL! Too funny.

 

[JSt0rm]

Clearly the people of texas pissed off god somehow.

 

[Jaskalas]

So what caused the dust bowl of the 1920s? Was that global warming???
You do understand that the term Global Warming was dropped because the facts couldn't backup the claims, thus Climate Change was coined because it's a term that is valid becaues the climate changes year round. They're called Seasons.

Oh hell seasons don't even begin to describe how much the climate naturally varies.

The oceans have multi-decadal oscillations. Meaning that you'd have to be ~60 before you could witness one complete cycle in your life time. Then there's the Little Ice Age, the Medieval Warm Period, the Dark Ages, the Roman Warm Period, etc. Those cycle well beyond a human life span.

Then there are the glacial periods themselves, and our current interglacial to take into consideration.

The raw temperature data in Texas is below, imagine trying to find a meaningful trend in this, where the signal used as proof is miniscule compared to every day changes.

 

[DesiPower]

Clearly the people of texas pissed off god somehow.

Dont you have a tree to hug somewhere...

 

[JSt0rm]

Dont you have a tree to hug somewhere...

I live in the city.

Dont you have a squirrel to skin and boil?