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8 Images to Understand the Drought in the Southwest
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on June 24th, 2013
Climate Central: In states like Missouri, last summer's drought was downright scary. Farmers saw their corn shrivel in the fields, ranchers ran out of feed for their cattle, and commerce on the Mississippi River slowed to a crawl, as barges struggled to avoid newly exposed rocks on the low-flowing river. But this spring brought relief. And now, after one of the wettest springs on record, life will return to a different sort of normal for many Midwestern farmers, as they deal with the problem of having too much water....
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Western drought intensifies, leads to deadly wildfires
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on June 15th, 2013
Climate Central: A record-breaking heat wave intensified drought conditions in much of the West during the past week, with 72 percent of the land area in the 10 Western states now in drought conditions, according to the latest update to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
The worst impacts of the drought are concentrated in the Southwest: New Mexico, Texas, Southern Colorado and the western parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska all contain land that is under extreme or exceptional drought. The hot weather -- Denver had...
At Long Last, Great Plains Sees Some Drought Relief
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on April 12th, 2013
Climate Central: After months of watching the skies and holding their breath, Nebraskans finally saw some meaningful drought relief, in the form of a mixed bag of precipitation, from thunderstorms to sleet, damaging hail, and heavy snow. The spring blizzard brought long-overdue drought relief to one of the hardest hit states by the historic national drought, which in many respects was more severe than the Dust Bowl era droughts of the 1930s, according to a federal report released on Thursday.
While the drought...
Another Summer of Drought Looms for Texas and West
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on April 4th, 2013
Climate Central: The outlook for the western half of the U.S. continued to be bleak on Thursday, as forecasters said drought conditions are expected to expand and intensify all across the West and Southwest.
And Texas, which has been in the throes of drought for the better part of two years, may be hardest hit as its bone-dry conditions are expected to continue into summer, leading to shortages of drinking water.
An update to the Seasonal Drought Outlook released Thursday forecasts drought to intensify in southern...
U.S. Drought Intensifies in Texas and Florida
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on March 8th, 2013
Climate Central: Drought expanded in two key areas of the country last week -- Florida and West Texas -- where several weeks of low rainfall have allowed already dry conditions to intensify, according to an update to the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday.
While much of the East Coast has seen heavy precipitation over the past two weeks, very little of that has extended into the Florida peninsula. According to the Drought Monitor, "abnormal dryness' pushed into all of southern Florida, while conditions of...
Drought to Last Through April; Southwest May Improve
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on February 8th, 2013
Climate Central: Large storms brought some short-term relief to drought-afflicted areas over the past week, and allowed the footprint of the national drought to shrink slightly. However, while similar rainstorms are forecast to continue during the coming weeks, there is only slight potential for drought recovery for the rest of the season.
A new seasonal drought outlook calls for the U.S. drought to persist or develop even more in the areas that have suffered the most from low precipitation over the past year...
U.S. Drought Hangs Tough Through January
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on January 31st, 2013
Climate Central: People all across the West, Plains and Southeast continued to hold their breath this week, as another seven days of below-average precipitation and above-average temperatures brought little to no reprieve to the historic drought conditions that have plagued these areas since early last spring. Some areas, such as Texas and Georgia, have been suffering from drought since early 2011.
Conditions deteriorated in several places this week, according to the updated U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday....
Low Snowfall Raises Concerns About Drought Recovery
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on January 25th, 2013
Climate Central: The total extent of the persistent national drought receded slightly during the past week, but in many places, conditions look no better now than they did when winter began. In particular, thin snow cover in some Western states is raising concerns that the drought's impacts in some of the hardest-hit regions will only worsen when temperatures increase and evaporation rates rise in the spring.
Between January 15-22, the amount of land in the lower 48 states experiencing drought conditions shrank...
USDA Declares Winter Wheat Belt Drought Disaster Area
Posted by Climate Central: Daniel Yawitz on January 11th, 2013
Climate Central: On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) declared 597 counties across 14 states natural disaster areas as a result of the ongoing drought that threatens the winter wheat crop. These are the first drought-related natural disaster declarations of the year, and mark the second year in a row that such measures were necessary due to the drought event, which is the worst such event since the 1950s. Overall drought impacts across the continental U.S. improved slightly this week, due to mild...