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Drought Prompts Natural Disaster Declaration in 26 States
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 13th, 2012
Climate Central: The most widespread drought in the U.S. since 1988 has prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to issue a natural disaster declaration for about 1,000 counties in 26 states, making farm operators eligible for low interest emergency loans. As of July 10, about 78 percent of the corn-growing region in the U.S. were experiencing some form of drought, and drought conditions have intensified in many corn-growing regions during the past several weeks. Bloomberg News characterized the natural...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Drought Prompts Natural Disaster Declaration in 26 StatesSpurred by Record Heat, Drought Stretches Across U.S
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 12th, 2012
Climate Central: Drought conditions have expanded and reached another record level for the 21st century as of Thursday, escalating concerns about the fate of the 2012 corn crop. As of Thursday morning, nearly 61 percent of the country was classified as being in at least moderate drought, up from about 56 percent just one week ago, which was the largest swath of the country to be affected by drought conditions since the Drought Monitor began in 2000.
According to the weather summary accompanying the...
El Nino May Be On the Way, Altering Weather Patterns
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 10th, 2012
Climate Central: If you thought the first six months of the year were chock full of weird weather events, just wait -- according to climate scientists there is an increasing likelihood that El Niño conditions will soon develop in the tropical Pacific Ocean. El Niño events, which are characterized by an area of unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean, can have a huge influence on global weather patterns. Its effects on the U.S. tend to peak during the winter.
The U.S. has already had...
The Extreme Weather of 2012 Represented in One Chart
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 9th, 2012
Climate Central: The weather so far this year has been anything but "average." There was that massive heat wave in March that sent temperatures soaring into the upper 80s in the Upper Midwest at a time when it should have been snowing. Tropical Storm Debby dropped more than 2 feet of rain in just a few days on northern Florida. Thousands of record high temperatures were set or tied during a brutal mid-June to early July heat wave, including hundreds of all-time record highs.
Wildfires burned hundreds of homes...
U.S. Has Warmest Year-to-Date As Drought Expands
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 9th, 2012
Climate Central: The U.S. continued its hot streak through June, recording the warmest January-to-June period on record, with drought conditions spreading across the Lower 48 states to an unprecedented degree. According to statistics released Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), June was the 14th warmest such month on record, and the past 12 months were the warmest such period on record. At the end of the month, 56 percent of the country was experiencing drought conditions, which...
Heat Wave Peaks After Breaking Thousands of Records
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 7th, 2012
Climate Central: The June to July heat wave finally began to ebb on Saturday, but not before breaking thousands of warm temperature records across the country. In many cases, records that had stood since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s have been equaled or exceeded, and this event is likely to go down in history as one of America's worst-ever early summer heat waves.
It is also shining a spotlight on the role that human activities may be playing in this event, since studies have shown that manmade global warming...
Ongoing Heat Wave in U.S. Rivals Events of Dust Bowl Era
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 6th, 2012
Climate Central: Tens of millions of Americans continue to sweat out one of the most intense heat waves on record since the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, with heat watches and warnings in effect yet again from the Plains to the Mid-Atlantic states. As happened during the Dust Bowl, the heat is helping to dry soils, increasing the extent and severity of drought conditions across the country and threatening this year's corn crop.
During the past 30 days, a stunning 6,439 warm temperature records were set or tied in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Ongoing Heat Wave in U.S. Rivals Events of Dust Bowl EraHistoric heat wave marches on as drought expands
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 6th, 2012
Climate Central: Much of the U.S. continues to be in the grip of unrelenting and dangerous heat, and the records just keep falling. During June alone, more than 3,200 daily high temperature records were set or tied, and more records have been set during the first week of July as well. Heat warnings, watches, and advisories were in effect for more than two dozen states as of midday Thursday, stretching from Nebraska to New Jersey.
The heat wave is also exacerbating a growing drought problem in the nation's heartland...
Historic Heat Wave Marches On as Drought Expands
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 5th, 2012
Climate Central: Much of the U.S. continues to be in the grip of unrelenting and dangerous heat, and the records just keep falling. During June alone, more than 3,200 daily high temperature records were set or tied, and more records have been set during the first week of July as well. Heat warnings, watches, and advisories were in effect for more than two dozen states as of midday Thursday, stretching from Nebraska to New Jersey.
The heat is also exacerbating a growing drought problem in the nation's heartland...
Heat wave expands again before retreating to the west
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on July 3rd, 2012
Climate Central: The grueling, protracted heat wave is still affecting much of the Upper Midwest and Plains on Tuesday, while utility crews have make progress restoring power to the Mid-Atlantic region after unusually severe thunderstorms tore across the region on June 29 in an event forecasters call a "derecho."
According to a Weather Channel analysis of climate data provided by the National Climatic Data Center, the 190 reports of all-time warm temperature records during the June 25 to July 1 period was enough...