Worst summer drought since the dust bowl years?

[Chris Hayes]

I found this article on the Belfast Telegraph website. They're talking about the United States facing it's worst summer drought since the Dust Bowl years. In my opinion that is utter nonsense. Are some parts of the nation experiencing drought? Yes, of course. However parts of the nation experience drought every year. I'm not too kean on the history of droughts, but if I were to call any summer the worst drought since the Dust Bowl, it would be 1988. Here's a link to the article http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article2643678.ece

 

[David Drummond]

The dust bowl years traditionally referred the 1930s in the plains area where all the vegetation had practically been scoured for farming use (no such thing as CRP back then) and when a drought came made for fantastic sandstorms the likes of which haven't been seen in decades.

Given that much of the plains right now is actually WELL over their yearly rainfall, they are pretty much out of drought. The lakes are filling up nicely. The water tables seem to be coming back up some.

In fact, locally for me, all the rain has been actually causing the farmers a good deal of problems getting stuff planted in time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Bowl

 

[beaudodson]

Media hype...I am tired of it myself. Just read the news about Denver today. Good luck with that.

 

[Joel Wright]

Yep, most definitely media hype. Every time there's a dry spell for any length of time this topic arises.

2005 was a year that parts of the midwest experienced a very severe drought. It actually exceeded 1988 in a few areas, such as eastern Iowa and much of Illinois. However, as bad as that was, it paled in comparison to the 3-4 year stretch of extreme drought that covered a much larger area back in the 1930s.

 

[Jason Boggs]

Amarillo is almost 5 inches above normal, so there is no drought here.

 

[Blake Michaleski]

its very bad here... saltwater intrustion is getting to be a problem. blacktip sharks are being caught well north of the I-10 bayway over Mobile Bay. This is extremely rare as the farthest north they are usually caught is the lower end of the bay near Dauphin Isle and the Fort Morgan Peninsula.

some of the lake levels are quite low including the city of Mobile's water reservoir.

We are just over 16 inches below average in the precip category on the year so far...

CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
554 PM CDT MON JUN 11 2007


...................................

...THE MOBILE CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JUNE 11 2007...
VALID TODAY AS OF 0500 PM LOCAL TIME.

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1842 TO 2007


WEATHER ITEM OBSERVED TIME RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST
VALUE (LST) VALUE VALUE FROM YEAR
NORMAL
..................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
TODAY
MAXIMUM 99 151 PM 101 1914 89 10 92
MINIMUM 65 458 AM 56 1913 69 -4 70
AVERAGE 82 79 3 81

PRECIPITATION (IN)
TODAY 0.00 4.52 2005 0.16 -0.16 0.00
MONTH TO DATE 0.23 1.85 -1.62 1.90
SINCE MAR 1 9.88 20.21 -10.33 6.79
SINCE JAN 1 15.04 31.06 -16.02 13.88

DEGREE DAYS
COOLING
TODAY 17 14 3 16
MONTH TO DATE 164 149 15 152
SINCE JUN 1 164 149 15 152
SINCE JAN 1 584 602 -18 723
..................................................................


WIND (MPH)
HIGHEST WIND SPEED 17 HIGHEST WIND DIRECTION S (170)
HIGHEST GUST SPEED 22 HIGHEST GUST DIRECTION S (180)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED 4.0


SKY COVER
POSSIBLE SUNSHINE MM
AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.1


WEATHER CONDITIONS
THE FOLLOWING WEATHER WAS RECORDED TODAY.
FOG
FOG W/VISIBILITY <= 1/4 MILE


RELATIVE HUMIDITY (PERCENT)
HIGHEST 93 200 AM
LOWEST 27 1200 PM
AVERAGE 60

..........................................................


THE MOBILE CLIMATE NORMALS FOR TOMORROW
NORMAL RECORD YEAR
MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE (F) 89 99 1882
MINIMUM TEMPERATURE (F) 69 57 1913


SUNRISE AND SUNSET
JUNE 11 2007..........SUNRISE 550 AM CDT SUNSET 756 PM CDT
JUNE 12 2007..........SUNRISE 550 AM CDT SUNSET 756 PM CDT


- INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS.
R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED.
MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING.
T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT.

 

[Paul Redmond]

San Antonio is at least 7 inches above normal so far this year. Most of texas is pretty well out of any drought this year. I understand that it is parts of new mexico, parts of wyoming and idaho, kalifornia, florida, georgia and the carolinas that are facing deficits.