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Dust Bowl Conditions Have Returned To Kansas, Oklahoma And North Texas
Submitted by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse blog,
In early 1978, a song entitled "Dust in the Wind" by a rock band known as Kansas shot up the Billboard charts. When Kerry Livgren penned those now famous lyrics, he probably never imagined that Dust Bowl conditions would return to his home state just a few short decades later. Sadly, that is precisely what is happening.
When American explorers first traveled through north Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas, they referred to it as "the Great American Desert" and they doubted that anyone would ever be able to farm it. But as history has shown, when that area gets plenty of precipitation the farming is actually quite good. Unfortunately, the region is now in the midst of a devastating multi-year drought which never seems to end. Right now, 56 percent of Texas, 64 percent of Oklahoma and 80 percent of Kansas are experiencing "severe drought", and the long range forecast for this upcoming summer is not good.
In fact, some areas in the region are already drier than they were during the worst times of the 1930s. And the relentless high winds that are plaguing that area of the country are kicking up some hellacious dust storms. For example, some parts of Kansas experienced a two day dust storm last month. And Lubbock, Texas was hit be a three day dust storm last month. We are witnessing things that we have not seen since the depths of the Dust Bowl days, and unless the region starts getting a serious amount of rain, things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get any better.
Over the past two months, very high winds and bone dry conditions have made the lives of ordinary farmers in the state of Kansas extraordinarily difficult. Just check out the following excerpt from a recent article posted on Agriculture.com...
The dust has settled, but for how long no one can be sure. At any moment, the winds may blow, moving the topsoil -- soil that took Mother Nature generations to craft -- even farther from its origin.
One farmer reckons that precious topsoil, native to his farm in Kearny County, Kansas, now sits in a field at least 200 miles away, blown there by the relentless winds of March and April 2014.
Affecting counties in western Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas, and eastern Colorado, it was reminiscent of what folks in the same region faced 80 years ago.
"There were several days we couldn’t see 100 yards in front of us," says Tom Hauser, a farmer near Ulysses, Kansas. "We didn’t know where the dust was coming from. It was moving in here from somewhere else, just like it did back in the 1930s."
When heavy winds blow day after day but there is no rain, it creates ideal conditions for dust storms. According to the same article that I just mentioned, the average wind speed in the little community of Syracuse, Kansas has been over 50 miles an hour so far this year...
Since the beginning of 2014, the average maximum daily wind speed in Syracuse, Kansas, is 50.6 miles per hour, according to the Kansas State University Weather Data Library. In that same time, Syracuse has received just 1 inch of total precipitation.
That is a recipe for disaster.
“I’ve had to chisel more ground this year than the last 20 years put together,” says Gary Millershaski, who farms near Lakin in Kearny County. Chiseling the ground roughs it up, and helps prevent soil from blowing – at least for a little while.
I couldn't imagine living somewhere with such high winds day after day.
But this is what farmers in the High Plains have to deal with on a constant basis.
And needless to say, when things are this dry those kinds of winds can kick up some immense dust storms. In fact, a dust storm in late April was so large that it covered most of the region...
Monday's dust storm was so large it covered most of Kansas, western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle and eastern Colorado, said weather service meteorologist Jeff Hutton in Dodge City. Tuesday's dust cloud was more localized, only found in some parts of Kansas.
"That is what happens when you get drought, a lack of vegetation and you have wind," Hutton said. "I mean, that is just the nature of the High Plains. And then that dirt that was lofted is eventually carried into eastern Kansas."
When one of these dust storms strikes, you want to get indoors and stay there. It isn't even safe to be driving. When you can't even see five feet in front of you, the odds of getting into a fatal accident rise exponentially. Just check out what happened earlier this year near the little town of Liberal, Kansas...
At least 12 vehicles were involved in an pileup accident near Liberal, Kansas.
The accident happened around 1:40 p.m., nine miles southwest of Liberal. It appears that blowing dust limited visibility so severely that it cause vehicles to not see each other until it was too late and they collided. One report states that visibility was less than five feet.
According to Chief Anthony Adams of the Tyrone Fire Department in Oklahoma, six of the vehicles involved were cars and trucks, the other six were tractor trailers.
As bad as things are in Kansas right now, the truth is that things are probably even worse down in Texas. Amarillo has had 10 dust storms so far this year, and Lubbock has already had 15 days of dust storms in 2014...
The number of dust storms seems to rise with the length of the drought. Amarillo has had 10 this year; it had none in 2010. The city is about 10 percent drier now than the 42 months that ended April 30, 1936, and drier than the state’s record drought in the 1950s.
Lubbock already has seen 15 days with dust storms this year, the National Weather Service said.
And remember, we haven't even gotten to the summer months yet.
As conditions get even worse in the heartland of America, it is going to end up deeply affecting all of us. The farmers and ranchers that live there provide a tremendous amount of food for the rest of the country, and food prices are already starting to rise at an alarming pace.
So what is going to happen if this drought extends for several more years or even longer?
Some experts such as paleoclimatologist Edward Cook have suggested that we could be in the midst of a "megadrought" that could last for decades or even centuries.
Many of those that were convinced that we could never see a return of the Dust Bowl days are now being forced to reevaluate their beliefs. According to the National Weather Service, parts of Kansas, Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma are already drier than they were in the 1930s. The following is an excerpt from a recent National Geographic article entitled "Parched: A New Dust Bowl Forms in the Heartland"...
Four years into a mean, hot drought that shows no sign of relenting, a new Dust Bowl is indeed engulfing the same region that was the geographic heart of the original. The undulating frontier where Kansas, Colorado, and the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma converge is as dry as toast. The National Weather Service, measuring rain over 42 months, reports that parts of all five states have had less rain than what fell during a similar period in the 1930s.
It is hard to put into words how incredibly serious this all is.
A few years ago, when I wrote articles with titles such as "20 Signs That Dust Bowl Conditions Will Soon Return To The Heartland Of America", a lot of people laughed.
Not that many people are laughing now.
The truth is that we are now in the midst of the worst drought crisis since the days of the Great Depression.
Fortunately, over the past week or so there has been some rain in some of the hardest hit areas. Let us hope that this is a sign of better things to come.
Because if this drought does not come to an end, it is going to become much, much more expensive for Americans to feed their families.
And considering the fact that 49 million Americans are already facing food insecurity, that is a threat that should not be taken lightly.
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I'm not a world reknown "Climate scientist" that is funded with public dollars...
At least ewhen the hoax is finally over he can go back to using his real name. Those other "Climate scientists" like Mann are going to be publicly ridiculed...
Actually he is a statistician....
http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/grant-foster/understanding-statistics-bas...
You would do well to read his recent text-book....
----
A more likely outcome will be guys like Watts that are going to be lynched....
Let me guess, you see your car mechanic for your annual physical? Or is he the one you recommend for people needing an angioplasty?
Do you even know what a PTCA is? I think you are late on your meds.
What is your problem..
NID is too fucking ignorant to realize that Appeal to Authority is only a fallacy when the Authority is not one in the field in question....
So why don't you get back on your trail and find someone who cares what you have to say...
Yes yes... I know I'm a climate heretic or whatever else you call those who don't agree with your religion... hey checkout the situation in Winnipeg...
http://globalnews.ca/news/1358331/hot-weather-but-water-pipes-still-froz...
And your point?
Are we likely to experience more of this the hotter the planet gets?
(Just looking for an expert opinion from a "Climate Scientist"...)
Funny how you would pick out the only populated area that has been below average of late
Global Temperature Anomlalies
or
This
Said the poster who was thyroid difficient in his formative years. So how goes the day "Christian"?
If you are going to take a cheap shots at a poster, at least spell it correctly...
Thyroid deficiency - that speaks volumes. Unsurprised.
As a meteorologist.....I can say honestly that Flak is correct.
Now....shut your pie hole.
Hey record ice on Lake Superior... yet more evidence of global warming...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2641861/Ice-weather-Sunbathers-f...
Looks like the ice may make it in to June...
<ahem>
I am not saying that "global warming" is totally true in the sense that it's totally man's fault and that the government can do anything about it. I don't want or need the government to do a damn thing.
However, blocking patterns in the mid-upper atmosphere (think jet stream layer) do indeed set up due to changes in the broader climate. Change the mid-long term thermal regimes of the world and you change the ocean temperatures. Change the ocean temperatures and you change the heat transfer mechanism. Change the heat transfer mechanism and you change ocean/atmosphere boundary layer and cycles based on that.
And...voila....you can have overall, on average, global "warming" and record ice amounts in the higher latitudes on occasion.
Now....back to shutting your pie hole.
Hey "Climate Scientist"... if you don't mind me asking you...
Where exactly do these "blocking events" and subsequent "polar vortex diversions" and "heat waves" come from"
CO2 and a warming planet/oceans is that what you are saying?
Yes or no.
"Hey "Climate Scientist"... if you don't mind me asking you...
Where exactly do these "blocking events" and subsequent "polar vortex diversions" and "heat waves" come from"
CO2 and a warming planet/oceans is that what you are saying?
Yes or no."
Yes.
Doesn't matter whether it comes from solar cycles, increased volcanic activity over millenia, dinosaur flatulence, or man made pollution. The atmosphere/ocean boundary interaction is a delayed feedback mechanism.
But you already know that. Go to your kitchen and turn on the stove. Wait till the eye gets red hot. Now touch it. Instant burn...right? Now put a full pot of water on and wait 1 minute. Stick your hand in the water. Does your hand burn ? No, of course not. The heat transfer is ongoing and the water has yet to absorb most of the direct thermal energy from the eye. But eventually it will.
Now....turn off the burner and remove the boiling pot of water. Wait five minutes. Now touch the eye. It doesn't burn your hand. Now....stick your hand in the pot of still very hot water. And hold it there for five minutes. Betcha' can't do it.
That in a nutshell is the atmosphere/ocean boundary. Which does indeed not only influence the under ocean currents but the current of air we know as the jet stream. Which acts a blocking mechanism at times causing heat waves in certain regions and cold snaps in others. AND the jet stream also influences the tracks of storms.....the likes of which give us the "Polar Vortices" we had that caused the ice build up on the Great Lakes.
All the while mean global temperatures have increased.
Let me let you digest on that bit of science fact for a bit. Then we can talk about how changes in the climate can change the "thermocline" structure of the ocean currents...which takes into account the salinity of the ocean....which then feeds back changes into the atmosphere.
OK so you say these vortex diversions and blocking events result from a warmer atmosphere/ocean boundary.
Good.
Except that fails not only the "reality test" but also opposes the expert opinion of your own global warming scientists.
Now first explain to me why we didn't have as many of these "Blocking events" back in the 1980's nd 1990's when the Pacific ocean surface temps were warmer than today (If NOAA info is good enough for you)
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_5JJarCb6DPo/TJYECNF71dI/AAAAAAAABgs/JKLX5dyJt5...
And now secondly explain why your own "Climate Scientists" don't agree with you...
"University lecturer Isaac Held and his colleagues published a letter in “Science” on Feb. 14 arguing that the recent extreme cold temperatures experienced in the Northeast were not due to human-induced global warming but were instead caused by natural fluctuations in the climate.
Held was joined in writing the letter by University of Washington professor John Wallace, Colorado State University professor David Thompson, University of Alaska Fairbanks professor John Walsh and Kevin Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
The letter argues against the claim that human-induced global warming could result in more frigid winters. The letter also argues that statements that the polar regions have recently begun warming more rapidly than the rest of the world are inconclusive.
http://dailyprincetonian.com/news/2014/02/u-lecturer-argues-global-warmi...
You guys are so deep into this religion you don't have a clue WTF is going on... but the debate is still over right?
OK so you say these vortex diversions and blocking events result from a warmer atmosphere/ocean boundary.
Yes. They can also set up from a cooler atmosphere / ocean boudary as well.
Now first explain to me why we didn't have as many of these "Blocking events" back in the 1980's nd 1990's when the Pacific ocean surface temps were warmer than today (If NOAA info is good enoug
Bullshit. We have blocking patterns every year. Some last longer than others. Some last for decades. Florida hasn't been hit by a landfalling hurricane for 9 years and counting. That is because of a change in the flow patterns year over year of not only the Atlantic basin, but over Africa and even the Pacific.
You've got to get it through your thick skull that flow patterns are global....and exist above and below the sea.
You guys are so deep into this religion you don't have a clue WTF is going on... but the debate is still over right?
You're showing your right wing religion which must preclude one from reading closely. I never said I believe in man-made global warming. I do not believe we are the MAIN cause of climate change right now. We are CERTAINLY A PART OF IT.....but not the MAIN cause of it . I DO NOT want the government to do a thing about it because they can't.
However, no matter the cause of climate change....it DOES have an impact on medium term weather events such as "Polar Vortices" as we had this winter. Even though the entire climate regime might be warming. For now.
What will it do in the future ? How the fuck should I know? Here's something we can agree on. It will change.
And it will change the atmosphere/ocean boundary mechanisms thus sparking Polar Vortices even when it is getting warmer globally.....and.....cause heatwaves and droughts in certain parts of the world when it gets cooler globally.
These are facts. Deal with it.
"I never said I believe in man-made global warming..."
And I never said that these blocking patterns that result in extreme cold or hot periods of weather never occured before. They are however occuring with more frequency again lately. The most important word here is AGAIN as in have occured in the past. This is not the message that "Climate Scientists" and their MSM enablers are getting out to the public however. It is obvious thaty are pushing for a much different agenda.
So great we finally agree... although I will concede about 1 degree celsius CO2 warming effect against a generally falling natural temps over the next century. Hardly a catastrophic matter.
And I agree that how it all turns out is anyones guess...
Here is the most comprehensive reconstruction of th NH temperature record for the past 2000 years...
http://skepticalscience.com//pics/Ahmed_2013_paleo_fig4.jpg
The paper is discussed here
https://www.skepticalscience.com/pages2k-confirms-hockey-stick.html
----
We are indeed the cause...
http://skepticalscience.com//pics/Attribution50-65.jpg
Summarized here
https://www.skepticalscience.com/its-not-us-advanced.htm
Everyone knows Sceptial Science is anything but sceptical.
It is run by your Catastrophic Global Warming friends and their well funded propaganda machine..
Hey... how are those treemometers doing these days? Most serious dendros know that the correlation to larger growth rings is due to the limiting factor of RAINFALL not heat asshole.
Call up Judith Curry or the clowns in the gang that couldn't measure straight (UAH) and write a paper explaining it all...
Better yet, if you are so sure that *you* have figured it out why don't you go to Real Climate and tell the experts what they missed?
http://www.realclimate.org/
Otherwise, you are simply a whiney little troll with nothing but twisted lies to lean on for support.....
As for the SSTs, Do you even know what the ENSO index is?
Here are the actual SSTs
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/maps/
Show me how the temps were warmer then...
We are all ears....
The planet has experienced at least 6 ice ages. Cold and hot spells are not something that is new.
It has also experienced at least 5 mass extinctions with a 6th in progress...
Funny how sudden climate change was at the root of at least 3 of them...
whether there is a cooling trend or a warming trend you will blame agw. god you people are gullible.
"If you like your topsoil, you can keep your topsoil!"
Surviving the Dust Bowl
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsqVc2KdRwc
Those dust storms in the 1930's were awful.
Cue the micreant left to scream about global somethings.
Cue the Hedgetards into kneejerk denialism...
man started agw 10,000 years ago... lulz out loud
Unfortunately the universe wasn't listening to them.
Well it's unimportant you know. You've run the numbers over and over just as I have; the jig is up. Whatever pain is coming is on the way and it's going to take whomever it needs to take, their thoughts about being taken will be of no more consequence than leaves in a firestorm.
paleoclimatologist? WTF? seriously, WTF??
Buzzy... the paleoclimatologist is saying that this is a naturally occuring event.
In other words NOT DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING.
What's the matter? Is the origin of the word beyond your comprehension?
This article is a load of crap. I am not surprised. Just disappointed.
nicole foss at automatic earth recently had a great article on water
Well the Depression wouldn't be complete without a Dust Bowl.
Now we need a "Three Stooges 2" and Men to start wearing Fedora's.
Living in the area, i can tell you every place from south kansas to san antonio to los angeles is turning to desert. The Dallas suburbs are at stage 3 heading to 4 water restrictions. Near LA people are only flushing toilets after several uses. Think of the economic impact, The country's 2 biggest states running out of water. Silicon Valley, Austin, Dallas, etc....dry.
I have no intention of going to LA, So you all are SOL. But ill see if nature will send you somthing in the next 31 days. Its not the same as me since old nature seems to like me making plans and raining on them. ;)
"If you bring water to your lips here, others go without" -DM
It's all Obama's fault.
You will stop at nothing. Good god. Is this a weather blog now?
You will stop at nothing. Good god.
you know what that means: bearish wasde coming. Who says you cant print food
If John Ford was still alive..what kind of movie would he make????
Except for Rhode Island, the USA always feels like movie to this Scot.
Do you think all your movies might be the cause?
How Brown Was My Valley
The Food Stamps of Wrath
farmland partners salivating...
Is this a weather blog now?
If we couldn't talk about the weather what would we say. But yes crop reports are important to economics, its not all fights between red and green army's.
How old are you that economics are only about fake charts and faker numbers, that weather has no influence on either.
I really hope for your sake that the Great and Powerful Tylers dont have to show you why the weather: or crops reports matter to economics.
But it would be fun to watch.
This must mean the end is coming....
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-black-bellied-whistling-duck...
Just drove west from LA over to Phoenix. Yesterday afternoon, 50 miles west of PHX, the desert got increasingly greener. Green groves of mesquite and palo verde in all the low washes.
South AZ seems to be getting lots more rain in recent years, especially down near Casa Grande where a sister has a ranch. LOTS more Ag and irrigated fields.
The moisture arrives from the Sea of Cortez/Baja/Pacific. I never trust the weatherman; I keep a rain gauge. Storm clouds today BTW
AC not PC
Did you see the flowers? what color were they? The desert will bloom within 24 hours of any rain shower.
All you saw was a flash in a pan. Did nothing to ground water tables or even to any weather pattern. Ag pump ground water they dont use rain water for their bank loans.
Shut up. We need to think it's fine now. This is very important.
Did you see the flowers? what color were they? The desert will bloom within 24 hours of any rain shower.
All you saw was a flash in a pan. Did nothing to ground water tables or even to any weather pattern. Ag pump ground water they dont use rain water for their bank loans.
Again, having grown up there, it MIGHT happen like that again. However, the locals are much better at farming than they were a century ago. Not as much land is being farmed, last I was there, either.
Not pretty but probably not on the scale that it was before...until it is.
Just put Brawndo on the crops. It's got what plants crave. It's got electrolytes.
Well, that's gotta be the funniest post of the week.
Harsh winter, dust bowl .... excuses get cheap these days, don't they?
It's OK we can get some illegal immigrants from Mars to dig the Keystone canal from Seattle to Omaha.
Bullish Dom Perignon
Bearish John Deere
Also: move out of fucking Texas. What are you doing there anyway?
You forgot one Perfecthedge.
Bullish Copies of Rosetta Stones Learn Spanish program
Particularly if you decide to stay in Texas
Quite honestly, I don't think the Mexicans are even going to survive this in an organized manner. This is likely going to work like a meteor strike.
Yes, please move out and go back to that better place where you came from. Take Austin with you.
Yes, please move out and go back to that better place where you came from. Take Austin with you.
hey, we are in the Greater Depression, might as well have a Greater Dustbowl to go along with it.
December Corn; $4.636 About .20 off the 52 wk. low. The high was $5.17 on April 8 --- July Wheat is down slightly from 1 year ago. per CBOT Charts.
Quick! Gin up some backstory so we can game commodity prices.
This story is the fracking fluid. You are the hole.
So, get ready to rumble then?
What a buncha CACA.
Climate is what it is.
Shit happens. Naturally.
The only difference is today we know more about it when it happens.
We don't know why it happens, but we know it happens, OK?
In more and more excruciating detail.
One of these daze we might know a bit more about why it does what it does.
Do you need to be taken to school again?