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America’s Great 2012 Drought

George Washington's picture




 

The progress of the drought has been horrific:

12 week 2012 Drought: As Bad as During the 1930s Dust Bowl?

The current drought is covering almost as much of the U.S. as during the 1930s dust bowl:

drought 2012 Drought: As Bad as During the 1930s Dust Bowl?

As the Weather Channel  pointed out last month,  the area covered by drought rivals some of the dust bowl years:

map specnews29 ltst 4namus enus 650x366 2012 Drought: As Bad as During the 1930s Dust Bowl?

As of June – the area covered by severe drought was still lower than during the Dust Bowl years, but still made the top 10 list:

map specnews30 ltst 4namus enus 650x366 2012 Drought: As Bad as During the 1930s Dust Bowl?

But – despite the recent rains in some areas, which reduced by 1% the area covered by drought – the farm states remain parched, and the area covered by severe drought is still growing.

Unfortunately, the one certainty is higher food prices.

Much of the area hit during the Dust Bowl – and again today – is naturally prone to drought.  As the Weather Channel notes:

The area is known as semi-arid and is naturally prone to drought and high winds. In fact, early settlers referred to it as the “Great American Desert.”

Interestingly, HowStuffWorks notes:

About 90 percent of the 450 million hectares of arid land in North America suffers from moderate to severe desertification [source: Center for International Earth Science Information Network]

But as Ezra Klein notes, there have been much bigger droughts in the distant past:

Scientists have looked at data from tree rings and found (pdf) that North America endured brutal “megadroughts” during the medieval period. These droughts were similar in intensity to today’s dry spells, but lasted 20 to 40 years and were possibly linked to massive La Niña ocean events:

ancient droughts Americas Great 2012 DroughtRed square = Here there be monstrous droughts.

 

Fortunately, we haven’t seen anything that bad in recent times.

Postscript:   July was reportedly the warmest month recorded in the U.S. since records began in 1895.  And AP reports:

The first seven months of 2012 were the warmest on record for the nation. And August 2011 through July this year was the warmest 12-month period on record, just beating out the July 2011-June 2012 time period.

Some say this proves global warming is a dire threat, while others say that it is dishonest to claim that short-term weather proves anything.

But we can all agree on the following:

 

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Thu, 08/09/2012 - 17:05 | 2692226 lasvegaspersona
lasvegaspersona's picture

St. Obama can make it rain.

Fri, 08/10/2012 - 06:48 | 2693463 AmCockerSpaniel
AmCockerSpaniel's picture

St. Obama does not want to do anything. But if he did want to do some real good he could. Like making some very large but shallow lakes in the likes of Death Valley. Build an aqua duct to bring salt water from the west coast. The sun would do all the heavy lifting. Jobs, jobs, and more jobs (think Hover Dam). We control the rain by controlling the water being put into the big lakes. NOAA would use those super computers to keep us ahead of the curve. That would work, so we don't have to kill it, Obama will. Lets all just keep saying it's not our fault nothing is being done.

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 15:09 | 2691883 DeFeralCat
DeFeralCat's picture

There is something incredibly ironic and downright creepy looking at the pictures of 1934 and 2012.

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 20:02 | 2692606 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

You mean like NAZI Party rallies and O'Bama Rallies?

Then I agree.

Today the little roid said he wanted to Nationalize ALL industry.

Goodbye, private property, hello Commisar!

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 22:06 | 2692874 mick_richfield
mick_richfield's picture

Wouldn't it have really taken a lot out of the Nuremberg Rally if Hitler had had a teleprompter in front of him?

They just don't make tyrants like they used to.

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 15:19 | 2691912 Winston of Oceania
Winston of Oceania's picture

The Gods still don't like market and economic intervention...

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 21:20 | 2692792 old naughty
old naughty's picture

"The Gods still don't like market and economic intervention..."

So they made time still...
We are still at 1930.

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 16:57 | 2692193 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

But how do they feel about deliberate manipulation of temperature interventions?

Official GISS US historical temperatures in 1999 vs. Official GISS US historical temperatures in 2011

http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/giss_conus_1999-vs-20...

Note that things are now getting colder in the past and warmer in the present?

1936 is still the US record for hottest year. (Followed by 1934).

Don't you just love graphs?

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 17:15 | 2692243 narapoiddyslexia
narapoiddyslexia's picture

Ah yes, nothing like data from a retired TV weatherman and verified crackpot to make your day.

If you want the truth, read through this web site. [Crackpots can read Anthony Watts.]

http://www.skepticalscience.com/

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 17:52 | 2692306 Convervative Co...
Convervative Connection's picture

Ah, yes... the old faithful ad hominem. That's the funny thing about facts, though, 2+2 = 4 no matter who says it.

If Watts is such a crackpot, it should be dead-simple to prove him wrong, right? I mean, he puts all his data and methods out for review, so it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to see where he fudged his numbers or where the data doesn't support his conclusions...

[crickets]

Of course, if a mistake is made, I'm sure he'll just delete all evidence from his site to hide the issue. No, wait, that's what skepticalscience.com does ( http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/11/on-skepticalscience-%E2%80%93-rewr... ).

In so far as the July being the warmist ever, consider that the COOP sensor network is so shitty, that NOAA has spent tens of millions between 2002 and 2008 putting in a new network (USCRN) with stations that are free from outside influence. Most sensors are installed N+2 (three sensors total) and are calibrated on an annual basis. It is tauted as the creme-de-la-creme of weather station networks. After millions of dollars, why isn't it being used:

COOP Average Temp, July, 2012: 77.6 F

USCRN Average Temp, July, 2012: 75.5 F (2.1 F lower)

Oh, I see...

 

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 23:39 | 2693066 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

What is your point? Do you always create strawmen? Do you even understand what strawman you are constructing?

Ask Anthony for a list of his "reliable" stations.... Funny how he does not post that...

And as for Spencer and Christy, so the UAH data, their baby,  is just wrong??? So why then should I trust anything from him and Christy?

Thu, 08/09/2012 - 20:03 | 2692615 CompassionateFascist
CompassionateFascist's picture

touted

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!