The droughts of this past summer...the pain is just about to start

My brother in law raises cattle. Just a few, around 50 or so. He has part of his land dedicated to coastal, for hay, and the rest for the cattle. Last year he had to let the cattle go in the coastal from time to time so they would have enough to eat. This year he's not buying any new cattle. Too dry. Now he's talking about harvesting rainwater off his roof and drilling another well with a hand pump just in case...

reply to post by fleabit


Because this is above top secret and nothing is just normal here. Every thing that happens is a harbinger of even more disaster to come. Its like dont worry, tomorrow will be worse.

Originally posted by karen61560
I live in Virginia. We did not have a drought this summer. We had plenty of rain.

I live in Virginia as well and I was not talking about my little corner of the world. We are very fortunate, plenty of rain for the crops and wells...I even said that early back on the first page. Maybe if you would have read what the thread was about instead of jumping to conclusions and thinking your off the cuff remarks were so important you had to blurt it out without reading what other people were saying.

I am aware of national and global things. You should try it instead of living in a bubble and only caring about yourself.

This is the fragile earth forum...it's not just about conspiracies.

ETA...and your post about what can we do? That has been discussed...There are things we can do if this is going to be a long term repeating cycle. It takes planning and infrastructure to do it though.

Ironically here in the UK we've gone from drought to record floods. Last winter was the driest I can ever remember, and we had a bone-dry April. Large parts of England had hosepipe bans in the spring, which was unheard of. Then the jetstream switched sough and we had wall to wall rain.

reply to post by AngryCymraeg


Wow, that's like going from the freezer to the fire.

Something I noticed was heavy spring rains in some places that just runs off and causes flash flooding...this was why I thought about the water retention ponds, reservoirs, etc. This would help alleviate the flooding in some places and store water for places that need it. The real problem/cost is an aqueduct/transmission system to get the water from places that had too much to places that don't have enough. I think it can be done in terms of engineering pretty simply...but cost....cost is always an issue. But what is the cost if this cycle continues and we do nothing?

reply to post by Jeremiah65


We have the same problem here in the UK. During the drought at the start of the year Wales, Northern England and Scotland had rain, but the rest of the UK didn't. There were calls to pump water from the wet areas to the dry, but that would have meant the water companies spending a lot of money on a system of pipes. Ever since the utility companies were privatised by Maggie, god rot her shrivelled soul, profit has been god and forward planning has been almost non-existent. Of course then the rain started. We've got more coming today - the UK is sodden. Again.

reply to post by AngryCymraeg
Yous guys should plug up Offas Dike and get that thing working again.

Originally posted by Logarock
reply to post by AngryCymraeg

 

Yous guys should plug up Offas Dike and get that thing working again.

Oi, we spent years weaking that thing, until the Mercians finally gave up and abandoned it!

reply to post by Jeremiah65

Regarding financial cost, isn't it "amusing" how cost should even factor in creating something that is needful? I swear to God there are people who would light themselves on fire "for just a little bit" if it might possibly increase their bottom line.


Are we the only creatures on this planet with the capability to plan, that collectively just do not use it? We use the behavior of lemmings to jokingly describe the blind to consequences behavior of others. Jokes on us though, as our entire species can collaborate to avoid the cliff but would rather try to make a cushion of the others to avoid the splat at the end of our fall.

Why take the plunge to begin with? Well, there's something about some big stones in Georgia, and the number 500 million, hey?

reply to post by louczar


As sad as it is, cost is always why we no longer do the "civil" projects we used to do. We used to do all kinds of things and oddly enough, back then there was money to do it...people worked, they paid their taxes and that paid for the Tennessee Valley projects, Hoover damn...you name it.

Now, we might be facing a long term problem and I guarantee you that if it were to come up in a BIll to Congress that the drought was going to continue for another 5 years and something must be done to preserve the farmlands...they would say we can't afford it...then turn around a cut a check to a foreign country for billions of dollars. Absolute madness.

Interesting thread. Just went through it kinda fast. I did not notice anyone post a long term forecast. Is that something that is available?

reply to post by crappiekat


It's not a long term forecast, but this one from NOAA predicts persistent conditions at least through February of 2013. I'll look to see if I can find any thing further out.

NOAA drought forecast

Originally posted by AngryCymraeg

Originally posted by Logarock
reply to post by AngryCymraeg

 

Yous guys should plug up Offas Dike and get that thing working again.

Oi, we spent years weaking that thing, until the Mercians finally gave up and abandoned it!

reply to post by Jeremiah65

Thank you for the link.

Off to work. Will give it a better look when I get back.

I asked my question incorrectly the first time.

When I said extended forecast, I had in mind 3 to 5 years out.

Is there even a way to get that kind of information, and how accurate would it actually be?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.

I just found this news... www.reuters.com...

* Drought expands in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas * Winter wheat crop worries persist * More than 42 percent of continguous U.S. in severe drought

Roughly 63 percent of the new winter wheat crop that U.S. farmers planted in the fall is in drought-hit areas, with the hard red winter wheat belt - especially from South Dakota to Texas - remaining deeply entrenched in drought, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Extreme temperature fluctuations from warmer-than-normal to freezing conditions have stressed the crop, which already was in poor shape due to lack of moisture.

I'm not panicking, but I am growing more concerned.

Yes, this is to me very scary.

Then we have 200 miles of the Mississippi being closed due to low water.

Thats gonna cost alot of money.

I'd say were in for some scary times.

Can't we just engineer some kind of edible algae that lives on impurities in water? That way it could purify the water as it grows and then provide food.

Wanted to pop this thread back up. I saw a report on the weather channel that the drought just keeps on keeping on...that winter crops are now going to be affected....this is not good.

I have a feeling that now the "Holiday shopping season" is over...the pain at the check out counter is going to spike. We generally buy our meat from a butcher shop....local grown stuff....sorry man...I ain't buying Wal Mart chicken after a report I saw showing them pick up randomly dead chickens in China for harvest....scary....

My meat bill went up big time....I was buying for my Holidays and the month of January and I was like sticker shocked...it was a good 30 to 40 percent higher than it was a month ago. I buy by the pound. I get my ground beef, roasts, chicken breasts and stew meat from the same butcher all the time. It is local grown stuff....I admit I generally spend a little more just for that fact, but when I got the bill this month, I think I had an aneurism...

It is coming folks....they just held it off a few months to get you to overspend for Christmas...it is coming to a market near you...mark my words....