U S Drought Monitor Map 11/27/12

11 years ago

For those members of our forum who post from states other than Oklahoma, I've linked the whole U.S. Drought Monitor map for this week.

The map looks amazingly awful. It isn't often we see such widespread drought at this time of the year. Usually the fall rainfall does much to mitigate drought conditions, but apparently fall rainfall has been skimpy in lots of areas.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: 11/27/2012 U S Drought Monitor Map

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

Pamchesbay
11 years ago
Thanks, Dawn. I guess Sandy's impact evaporated and 60% of Virginia is back to abnormally dry or in moderate drought. For last three years, the local corn burned up in the fields. It's depressing to drive by miles of dried up corn stalks, and think about all the time, energy and $$ that went into that crop.

But we don't hold a candle to y'all.

When Pete and I built this house, we also designed a rainwater harvesting system for the house water. This allows me to use water from two shallow (8'-10') wells in the gardens. When our rainwater runs low, we call the "Water on Wheels" guy - he sells 3,000 gallons of town water for $200. 3,000 gallons lasts us a long time.

The mainstream news media are doing more stories about the drought and rising sea levels - how much faster the seas are rising than predicted just a few years ago. I haven't decided which problem we need to worry most about: the drought or the rising seas.

I found an interesting product in the Farmtek catalog - Poly Geogrid for stabilizing applications (erosion control, retaining walls, dredging, etc). We have rip-rap (rocks) along the shoreline to stabilize it and prevent erosion. The rip-rap falls, sinks, gets buried in the sand, or a storm comes and knocks it down. It's a never-ending job to keep the rip-rap in place. This Poly Geogrid may give us a second line of defense by helping us build up dunes faster.
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
11 years ago
You're welcome, Pam. I was shocked when I noticed how much of Virginia was back in drought. I thought to myself that Sandy didn't help the state overall as much as I thought it would.

If there's one thing that this region, and not just OK, but Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Texas are good at--it is drought. Not that we want to be good at drought, but we have it so often lately that it is just ridiculous.

It bothers me to see such a huge portion of the US in drought, including parts of Alaska and Hawaii. It is a big news story here. Our fire danger is very high this weekend (and we've had grass fires yesterday and today) and that's the big topic on our local news/weather.....it is hot, it is dry, the wind is forecast to blow strong....be careful and don't burn trash, brush, etc. They're also talking about the deepening of the drought, and the lack of rainfall.

Our county's official rainfall for this November is 0.42" which is about 3 or 3.5" below average. Our three driest months, statistically speaking, are December, January and February, so little drought relief is expected here over the next three months. It is all bad news here right now.

On Monday, when the city of Marietta is hosting its annual Christmas parade, our forecast high temp is 78. In fact, for the next three days our forecast low is slightly higher than our usual high. Our weather has gone berserk.

I think that the FarmTek polygrid might be just what you need. I love FarmTek. I always see something in their catalog that I want or think I need.

Dawn
Related Discussions
This Week's Drought Monitor Map for 1/11/11
Q
Comments (1)
Jay, If you see this I added the map of the state of Kansas. Your area is still classified as Moderate. I expect you'd make it to the Severe Category by summer if rain doesn't start falling there. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: U. S. Drought Monitor Map of Kansas
...See More
U S Drought Monitor Map of OK 4/12/11
Q
Comments (0)
The map of Oklahoma from the latest edition of the U. S. Drought Monitor is linked below. Only a few counties in NE OK remain drought-free. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: OK Drought Monitor Map
...See More
U S Drought Monitor Map for OK 4-5-11
Q
Comments (4)
La Nina is only one factor that contributes to the development of drought. There are many other factors. Can the end of drought be predicted? No. Not in exact terms, i.e. "your drought will end in July". However, the experts who track weather patterns will, at some point, see changes in the patterns that may presage the end of a specific drought in a specific portion of the country. The Seasonal Drought Outlook is a CPC product that predicts the likely scenario in the coming weeks. The latest version of it is linked below and I'll warn you before you look at it that it is depressing. Here is a link that might be useful: Seasonal Drought Outlook April 7, 2011
...See More
U S Drought Monitor, June 19, 2012
Q
Comments (5)
Dawn I posted my views on another thread about the map. It is already hot here this morning and looks to be that way through next week. Which will diminish conditions some. The trend shows chances of moisture picking up the 1st of July and through July. I'm just over 8 inches of moisture currently. Which isn't far off normal. Had around 7 inches for all of last year. The wheat on average is around 20-25 bushels per acre. Last year was zero except in a few cases. I have been training to line locate the last few weeks. Have performed locating from the OK Panhandle to Pueblo,CO. I will say placing markers, driving ground rods and removing them and digging a few holes that the Pueblo CO and SE CO areas of CO are drier than we are. They are where we were the 3 previous years. I feel for them. I saw several fields of sweet corn that was burning up. They don't have enough water to get to all of it with no help from mother nature. Just like we were last year. Scott I hope you get some rain. I know the feeling all too well. I'm thankful we have received some relief and hope it is a sign of continued improvement. I don't expect a sudden change but a steady gradual change is better than none at all. Jay
...See More
Pamchesbay
11 years ago
Yes, I'm putting the Polygrid product on my Christmas list!

Today, I read an article, "Heightened Alarm Over Low River." The Mississippi River is so low, that shipping companies have asked the White House for an emergency declaration so the Corps of Engineers can blast rock from the bottom of the river to increase water flow. Last time the Corps dynamited Miss River was 1988-89.

Companies also want the Corps to allow more water from the Missouri River to flow into the Mississippi. Congress ordered the Corps to maintain the Missouri so they can't increase the flow. In general, FEMA needs to designate an area as a disaster before these things can happen. Governors haven't requested this from FEMA.

Every action seems to have unintended consequences that we don't foresee.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mississippi River Drought
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the linked article. I've been watching the Mississippi River drama for months now. I think it is so sad. In the past, the mighty Mississippi used to flood horrendously and, while I don't wish that upon the folks there, it sure would be nice to see some good rainfall fill up that river again. Unfortunately, it seems like all the rain is falling right now in sunny California while the rest of us dry up and blow away.

Did you see the article about why Cali is getting the rain? I've linked it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Atmospheric River Over California