5/13 Drought Monitor; D3-4 From S. Texas To Nebraska; Entire State Of California D2 Or Much Worse

[hatrack]

EDIT

The Plains

Heavy rains fell across western, northern and eastern Nebraska last week, leading to significant improvements in the Panhandle, where D0-D2 have been pushed back to the east and from the north to the south. The biggest improvements, however, were seen in east-central Nebraska, where the storms dumped anywhere from 3 to 5 inches or more, leading to reduction of drought and a pocket that is now drought-free with short-term and lingering long-term dryness/drought concerns eased for now. The recent wet trend continued across southeastern South Dakota as well, bringing more improvements with the reduction of D0-D1 there and across the border into Minnesota as described above.

Farther south, Kansas also saw a mixed bag this week with heavy but narrow bands of storms putting a small dent in the drought there, particularly in central Kansas where the D3 was trimmed, leaving D2 behind. Elsewhere in Kansas, though, the drought strengthened its grip and was accompanied last week by well above normal temperatures, leading to an expansion of D4 into the extreme southwestern reaches of the state to the Oklahoma border.

Oklahoma also felt those hotter temperatures along with some below-freezing readings late in the period, leading to more damage to the winter wheat crop, which has felt the brunt of a cold winter and coinciding drought. However, heavy rains did fall across the southeast corner of the state, bringing some 1-category improvement there.

In Texas, scattered totals of 2 to 4 inches fell across northeastern and eastern counties this past week, leading to some relative improvement with a push west and south of D0-D3 in these areas. In fact, the area of D3 located just off the coast in southern Texas has been removed this week. Some slight trimming of the D4 was also seen this week in south-central Texas. Deep south Texas also shared in the improvements with the elimination of D2 and trimming of D0-D1. The southeast coastal region continued to miss out on the rains (although rains were falling in this region just after the cutoff time for the USDM production), leading to a push of D2 eastward into southwest Louisiana on this week’s map.

EDIT

Most states in the West saw below-normal temperatures last week, helping preserve the precious liquid cargo contained in the upper elevations and reservoir systems. A mixed bag of improvements and deterioration is noted on this week’s map. In Colorado, storms continue to avoid the southeastern corner of the state, leading to an expansion of D3 westward along with D0-D2 south of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range. Notable improvement in the moisture situation in northwestern Colorado also leads to a reduction of D0, which also pushed improvement west into east-central Utah.

In Arizona, continued dryness leading up to the monsoon season means an expansion of D2 in the northwest, northeast and southern regions of the state.

A very favorable precipitation pattern for the calendar year-to-date (10 to 50% above the average) continued this past week, which has led to gradual improvement in the Pacific Northwest region as a whole. In Washington, the remaining dryness and drought has been reclassified to long-term (given the larger-scale wetness on the year-to-date) as denoted by the “L” and a resultant shift in the “L” impact line area found in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, as these areas are now connected. Most of the Willamette Valley improves to D0 from D1 this week and more of northeastern and north-central Oregon has also improved to D0. The southern half of Oregon remains unchanged.

All of California is now depicted as being in severe drought (D2) or worse this week, with the D3/D4 areas remaining unchanged. Attention this week turns to the heat wave settling in, which will only serve to exacerbate and accelerate drought impact concerns across the state. Increases on water demand and the increased risk of fire will ramp up as the heat does.

EDIT

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

[Sunlei]

1. Houston area here, yes we are 11 inches behind 'normal rainfall'. My pastures are tuff buffalo grass

I have many old trees.

The buffalo grass, the sod is about a foot and a half thick. It hardly grows anymore just sits dormant and dry.

Buffalo grass is Tinder until it rains even a little, greens right up and waits for the buffalo & wild horses to return & fertilize it.

I've lost several 100+ year old trees due to the extreme drought.

We're turning into desert lands.

The faster Texas removes/over cattle grazes to dirt the native grasses and tree cover go away...the faster the desertification of Texas progresses.

[OnlinePoker]

2. This report says Houston is 4.23 inches behind for the year

Of course if the rain comes as a deluge like it did on Monday/Tuesday, it doesn't do much for the long term because it doesn't have time to soak into the ground.

http://www.click2houston.com/news/did-enough-rain-fall-to-help-break-recent-drought-status/25962626

[Sunlei]

4. It doesn't rain 'exactly the same' number of inches over the entire houston area.

I don't live in the flood plains. I am, my property is 11 inches behind average rainfall for this year. Though we did get 2 inches (by my rain g.) yesterday, finally and the grass greened up a lot already.

Personally I love the climate change weather it was 63 this morning! where it used to be humid, hot like a swamp out here.

2 years ago when Texas drought was even worse on my property, I had to stop using one of my meadows for flock grazing because the local wild life was starving, moving in for their drinking water and eating them.

[Demeter]

3. Michigan is getting 5+ inches this week

Flood is a definite possibility. The Lakes should start looking like themselves, at least.

[Sunlei]

5. Those lakes are the puddles from the last Ice age.Good that it rained but the glaciers are gone

In my dreams what happens to the great Lakes is we Americans (Canadians too) open up a large waterway shipping and public transportation highway.

Connect the Northwest passage (it is now open/ice free and will grow to a most major of ports soon) to the Great Lakes, to the Mississippi river (river that suffers from seasonal droughts/floods) to the Gulf nearish the ports of Houston.

A nice wide/deep water highway for shipping, bullet fast public transportation and plenty of water for our drainage of floods, drinking/farm use in drought areas.

[Demeter]

6. Those lakes are natural fresh water reservoirs that fill when rain and snow are plentiful

and there ain't gonna be any monkeying with them.

We don't need dead seas like the Aral

Formerly one of the four largest lakes in the world with an area of 68,000 km2 (26,300 sq mi), the Aral Sea has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet irrigation projects. By 2007, it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into four lakes – the North Aral Sea, the eastern and western basins of the once far larger South Aral Sea, and one smaller lake between the North and South Aral Seas. By 2009, the southeastern lake had disappeared and the southwestern lake had retreated to a thin strip at the extreme west of the former southern sea. The maximum depth of the North Aral Sea is 42 m (138 ft) (as of 2008).

The shrinking of the Aral Sea has been called "one of the planet's worst environmental disasters". The region's once-prosperous fishing industry has been essentially destroyed, bringing unemployment and economic hardship. The Aral Sea region is also heavily polluted, with consequent serious public health problems. The retreat of the sea has reportedly also caused local climate change, with summers becoming hotter and drier, and winters colder and longer.

In an ongoing effort in Kazakhstan to save and replenish the North Aral Sea, a dam project was completed in 2005; in 2008, the water level in this lake had risen by 12 m (39 ft) compared to 2003. Salinity has dropped, and fish are again found in sufficient numbers for some fishing to be viable...wikipedia

SEE ALSO:



8 Mighty Rivers Run Dry From Overuse

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/rivers-run-dry/

[Sunlei]

7. No worries, the Lakes can be drainage pits for climate change floods forever, probably will never

totally dry-up if it keeps raining.

My transportation highway can bypass the states lakes totally. I doubt Canada will care to share their NW passage shipping bonanza anyway.