U.S. drought biggest since 1956, climate agency says

[alp227]

Source: CNN

The pool is closed in Warrenton, Missouri. Cattle ponds are drying up in Arkansas. Illinois is in danger of losing its corn crop.

Even the mighty Mississippi River is feeling low amid what the National Climatic Data Center reported Monday is the largest drought since the 1950s.

The center said about 55% of the country was in at least moderate short-term drought in June for the first time since December 1956, when 58% of the country was in a moderate to extreme drought.

The hot, dry weather in June, which ranked as the third-driest month nationally in at least 118 years, according to the center, made the problem worse. The portion of the country suffering from severe to extreme short-term drought dramatically expanded in June, up to nearly 33% from 23% the month before.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/16/us/us-drought/index.html

[Lionessa]

1. Financial collapse, false recovery ready for second deeper collapse, and now a dust bowl??? Creepy

eerie similarities to the Great Depression, imo.

Granted it's not a dustbowl yet, but neither is the summer over, it could get worse. Hope it doesn't. And I have to say I'm not a Great Depression scholar, so maybe the similarities are being misremembered. But, every time I see the crops/drought data getting worse, it just seems so very eerily similar.

[madrchsod]

9. close but that`s why we need obama for the next four years

i have a feeling he won`t repeat what roosevelt did in the 30`s.

[Lionessa]

11. Lesser of evils, no doubt. But not hope for the masses either.

But Obama's still toeing the status quo, so I doubt Obama will help much either.

[SheilaT]

2. Part of what surprises me is that as bad as things are,

it's been worse before.

[slackmaster]

3. Just a data point - The 1950s drought ended abruptly four months after December 1956

The rains returned to a more normal pattern in the spring of 1957.

[Igel]

5. Yes.

But then again, it was "moderate extreme" back then, unlike just "moderate" now.

I wonder how many months the one in 1956 covered. Suppose I should read the article, it might say.

[dipsydoodle]

4. '56 was the end of a La Nina period which had run over 10 years.

Diagnosis of observational and climate model data reveals that the two major U.S. droughts of the 20th Century had distinct causes. Drought severity over the Southern Plains during 1946–1956 is very likely attributable to remote influences of global sea surface temperatures (SSTs). The Southern Plains and adjacent Southwest are regions particularly sensitive to SST variability, and strong La Niña events that occurred during 1946–1956 exposed that region's drought vulnerability. Drought severity over the Northern Plains during 1932–1939 was likely triggered instead by random atmospheric variability. The Northern Plains lies within a region of comparatively low sensitivity to SST variability, and that region's drought exhibited little sensitivity to SST conditions during the Dust Bowl period. Our results indicate that the southern portions of the Great Plains lie within an epicenter of potentially skillful drought predictions for which an ocean observing system is also a vital drought early warning system.

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2009GL039860.shtml

[may3rd]

6. That's not how the Iranian 'leadership" is spinning the drought

They know "the west" is responsible for the drought drying up Persia


Iran drought part of 'soft war' by West: VP

?1342478485
.....
Last year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Western countries of devising plans to "cause drought" in Iran, adding that "European countries are using special equipment to force clouds to dump" their water on their continent.

Iranian leaders claim on a daily basis that Western countries, led by arch-foe the United States, devise "plots" in many forms to undermine the Islamic republic and to impede its economic and scientific development.
......
http://www.france24.com/en/20120716-iran-drought-part-soft-war-west-vp

[Igel]

7. Of course. Science doesn't say what they want.

Science is really at it's best when it says what we wanted to think was right all along--or when it makes necessary the changes we've always pushed for.

When it's neutral, well, maybe it's okay. As a curiosity.

And when it doesn't say what we want, well, what's the funding source? What's the motives of the scientists involved? What, they only had a sample size of 23k--did they have evough Spanish-speaking 17-year-olds African-Siouan urban low SES kids who were left-handed?

In other words, if it disagrees with us, there's some reason that they're wrong and, if truth be known (finally) then, well, of course it would agree with us.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Looks like teasel.

Seems to grow everywhere that plant.

[TouchOfGray]

10. I'm calling B.S. on CNN and this report

Just last week Al Gore reported on his blog that this was actually the worst in recorded history, unprecedented. Now CNN comes along and provides the usual RW Global Warming denier sites with this ammunition to ridicule Vice President Gore again. And they are out there today laughing and pointing.

Biggest disaster area in US history from recent extreme weather July 14, 2012 : 8:33 AM

The US Department of Agriculture has named over 1,000 counties in 26 states as disaster areas - the largest declaration in history - as a result of the recent drought, wildfires and other extreme weather events threatening agriculture and many other industries across the entire country. As scientists have told us, this is what the climate crisis looks like.

http://blog.algore.com/2012/07/biggest_disaster_area_in_us_hi.html

Who are you going to believe, Mr. Gore and your own lying eyes or some uninformed MSM "news" network?

Just look at the comments they allow after the story!

[alp227]

12. The data came from the NCDC, a division of NOAA

FAR from deniers. Their releases: https://nes.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/prod/f?p=100:1:::: 1_ARTICLE_SEARCH:351

https://nes.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/prod/f?p=100:1:::: 1_ARTICLE_SEARCH:353

[dipsydoodle]

13. BBC News also quotes from NOAA :

Worst US drought since 1956 hits residents and crops - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18864753