Global warming? What global warming?
A drought for the ages
DENVER — Drought, a fixture in much of the West for nearly a decade, now covers more than one-third of the continental USA. And it's spreading.
As summer starts, half the nation is either abnormally dry or in outright drought from prolonged lack of rain that could lead to water shortages, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, a weekly index of conditions. Welcome rainfall last weekend from Tropical Storm Barry brought short-term relief to parts of the fire-scorched Southeast. But up to 50 inches of rain is needed to end the drought there, and this is the driest spring in the Southeast since record-keeping began in 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center.
And when the U.S. goes looking for water, where do you think they're going to look first?
1 comment:
Well, it is the US, so first they'll blame someone else. Immigrants will factor in here, possibly terrorists. Hysterical politicians and pundits will somehow find a way to blame a group of identifiable people besides themselves (wealthy white lifestyle being non-negotiable and all).
Then they'll pray for rain, until the hurricanes start coming in. It should be noted that in case anyone thinks extra hurricanes will be good for drought stricken areas, that extremely dry conditions followed by extreme rain leads to large scale flooding and damage and only minimal water absorbtion. Actual deserts, with their thick sand covering, are actually better suited absorb rainfall of this type.
Oh, and they can look to Canada for water if they want to, but to transport the amount of water they need would require a lot more than a train or tanker trucks. The infrastructure would have to be built, and given that the US is basically bankrupt already, it seems unlikely they'll get the pipelines built in time. I hope.
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