The right kind of rain could cure U.S. drought

mlurp · #1 (**permalink**) 08-15-2012, 09:02 PM

Lord knows we need rain and plenty of it right now. Yet my local forcast show but one day it might rain this weekend. Whats your forcast?

Quote:

..The right kind of rain could cure U.S. drought

By Deborah Zabarenko | Reuters – 7 hrs ago.. 15 August 2012 ...............

View Gallery.

In this Aug. 3, 2012 photo, Tony Frost, of Frost Farms, surveys a pond in the cattle pasture that serves as the water source for his cattle that has nearly dried up in Tallula, Ill. After months of drought, …more

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. weather experts know exactly what would officially end this year's killing drought: nine to 15 inches of rain falling in one month over the hardest-hit parts of the country.

Numbers don't tell the whole story, though. It will take the right kind of rain - slow and steady over a period of weeks - to cure the worst U.S. drought in more than half a century. The wrong kind could only make matters worse, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The nine-to-15-inch estimateis derived from the Palmer Drought Index, which considers temperature and precipitation to project what it would take to end a dangerous dry period. The index does not consider how quickly the rain falls.

Richard Heim, a climatologist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, reckons that half an inch of rain, every other day for a month, would soak into the parched soil and go a long way toward ending the extreme dry conditions that have blighted the corn and soybean crops, slowed traffic on the Mississippi and threatened to send food and fuel prices soaring.

But if the requisite amount of rain fell in a single day, Heim said by email, it could cause flash floods that would run off sun-baked ground without seeping in, doing little to end the drought.

Much of the U.S. corn and soybean crop is already lost due to the drought, and even if it started raining now, that would not restore the crops to normal levels.

Without numerous days of steady rain, this could be a repeat of the drought year of 1988, said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That year, drought devastated corn, soybeans and winter wheat, causing problems that carried over into the next growing season, he said.

Sterling Smith, a commodity strategist for Citigroup, suggested that might happen to this year's soybean crop, which he said "might take two growing cycles to straighten out." Soybean prices could be high well into spring 2013, Smith said on August 10, as the U.S. Agriculture Department forecast soybean inventory could shrink to a scant two-week supply before next year's crop is ready for harvest.

It's not just a U.S. issue. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned on August 9 that the world could face a food crisis like the one seen in 2007-08 if countries restrict exports as they worry about rising grain prices fueled by drought. Global food prices surged in July, FAO reported.

EL NINO TO THE RESCUE?
................................................ CONTINUED .............................................

The right kind of rain could cure U.S. drought - Yahoo! News

1,307 comments.

1069 · #2 (**permalink**) 08-15-2012, 09:35 PM

I'm kind of hoping we don't get any more rain for awhile around here; rain's bringing the mosquitoes out in force, and with them, of course, the West Nile Virus.
It's also causing a bloom of blue-green algae in our municipal water supply, which is allegedly not dangerous, but which makes the tap water smell and taste gross.
It's not the rain per se which is causing these things, but the rain after years of drought.
I kind of wish we could go back to the drought, though.

Of course, that caused problems as well- last year, there were wildfires.
I just want whatever is safest for the most people, I guess.

mlurp · #3 (**permalink**) 08-16-2012, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1069

I'm kind of hoping we don't get any more rain for awhile around here; rain's bringing the mosquitoes out in force, and with them, of course, the West Nile Virus.
It's also causing a bloom of blue-green algae in our municipal water supply, which is allegedly not dangerous, but which makes the tap water smell and taste gross.
It's not the rain per se which is causing these things, but the rain after years of drought.
I kind of wish we could go back to the drought, though.

Of course, that caused problems as well- last year, there were wildfires.
I just want whatever is safest for the most people, I guess.

Yet in the drought areas this algae is blooming to. We were warned about it in 2009 and again last week in some of the states lakes.

In 2009 it got in the water treatment plant intakes from the KS., river but the water treatment keep us clear of any danger.

And beware of what you wish for... Really. Because that aying didn't come from the fresh air!

mlurp · #4 (**permalink**) 08-19-2012, 01:02 PM

Well no rain can mean this. And in the end some will see their home insurance rise.
Large picture at the site.

Quote:

.Idaho evacuations ordered; Wash. residents go home

By PHUONG LE | Associated Press – 9 hrs ago. 19 August 2012 ................

SEATTLE (AP) — Thunderstorms and lightning threatened fire officials' plans to contain a large blaze in central Washington state as hundreds of Washington and California residents returned home to find out whether their homes were spared.

In Idaho, authorities on Saturday issued a mandatory evacuation order for some 350 homes in the area around Featherville due to thick smoke. That town and the community of Pine, both recreation getaways in the mountains 105 miles northeast of Boise, remained in the path of a 130-square-mile wildfire that has been burning for two weeks.

Fire managers were concerned that poor visibility could hamper the evacuation process, fire spokesman David Eaker said. The smoke also prevented retardant bombers from reaching the fire and aerial reconnaissance flights from locating the fire's leading edge.

"It's a very active, very dangerous fire," fire information officer Steve Till said. Crews "were prepared for it, but civilians are probably much better not being here."

The Idaho Emergency Operations Center on Saturday assigned an Idaho National Guard helicopter to fires in the southwest part of the state to be available for medical evacuations if needed. Officials said the UH-72 Lakota helicopter and seven soldiers were scheduled to be stationed in Pine as early as Monday.

The Trinity Ridge Fire burning through timber grew 15 square miles overnight. High temperatures combined with low humidity and difficult terrain made it harder for the 1,082 firefighters assigned to the blaze.

Fire spokeswoman Lisa Machnik said Saturday that three firefighters suffered ankle and knee injuries because of the rough terrain.

In Utah, evacuations were ordered for two housing developments after three separate fires were reported near the Jordanelle Reservoir east of Park City.

Wasatch County and Jordanelle Fire Department officials said evacuations were ordered Saturday for the Fox Bay Condominiums and Stillwater developments, along with Jordanelle State Park.

The three wildfires had burned a total of about 400 acres, the Deseret News reported. Multiple agencies, as well as two helicopters and four airplanes were battling the fires.

.................................................. . CONTINUED ..........................................

Idaho evacuations ordered; Wash. residents go home - Yahoo! News

mlurp · #5 (**permalink**) 08-20-2012, 04:07 PM

I guess to some there is a bright side to almost everything. And they have found in this long drawn out drought one.

At the site are a lot of link within this news story.

Quote:

..Midwest drought reveals Indiana ‘ghost towns’

By Ron Recinto | The Lookout – 3 hrs ago... 20 August 2012 ..........

The severe drought scorching much of the nation's Midwest has lowered water levels so drastically that towns that were intentionally submerged decades ago are starting to surface.

The historic drought has dried the Salamonie River in northeast Indiana so much that its receding banks are now revealing the remnants, bricks and foundations of Monument City, Ind., NBC News reports.

The small town of 100 was one of three whose residents were relocated before the Salamonie River was dammed and the municipality submerged in order to build a reservoir in 1965.

[Photos: Drought strikes many states]

"Our school didn't have a gymnasium," Dick Roth, 81, who attended the defunct high school in Monument City said in the piece. "Our gymnasium was outside, which is a cement slab."

Slabs of foundations and red bricks that once walled the homes and buildings of the riverside community are becoming visible and bringing up memories for those who once lived there, like Roth.

Officials of a nearby visitor's center that has a display honoring the once-sunken towns are giving guided tours of the areas, hoping former residents will come and tell more stories and share their oral history, NBC noted.

[Related: Drought diaries, stories from the historic drought]

The drop of water levels in lakes and rivers is a startling example of the toll of the historic drought, which is also hampering the economy in the Midwest.

A recent report says the drought is leveling off in the Midwest. However, it's not much consolation with about 62 percent of the continental U.S. mired in drought conditions. About 24 percent of the U.S. is experiencing extreme or exceptional drought—the two worst classifications.

.
More coverage from Yahoo! News.
.
Ukrainian commission wants to ban ‘gay’ SpongeBob and Teletubbie ‘losers’.

Obama camp to Romney on taxes: ‘Prove it’.

Family Research Council shooting suspect had 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches in bag, FBI says

Midwest drought reveals Indiana ?ghost towns? | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

218 comments at the site.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

The Following User Says Thank You to 1069 For This Useful Post:
mlurp