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US Drought Monitor August 16, 2012 photo by Crane-Station on flickr
The US Drought Monitor map for August 14, 2012 was published at 8:30 Am today, August 16, 2012 and is pictured above. Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina (the Southeast) have shown some improvement due to rain, with Alabama no longer experiencing exceptional drought. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states received enough rain that things did not get any worse, according to the map. The South and Southern Plains states Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana experienced deterioration in conditions, with “large swaths of exceptional drought” added this week in Oklahoma. Rain alleviated some of the drought in the Midwest and Northern Plains states, including “central Iowa, across northern and central Illinois and Indiana, and into western Ohio and southern Michigan,” as well as North and South Dakota. However, the summary states, ” Exceptional Drought (D4) expanded in the western and central parts of Nebraska and through central and eastern Kansas and into western and central Missouri.” In the West, extreme and exceptional drought expanded in Colorado. Idaho is also dry.
CNN published this video four days ago, nicely explaining the drought impact to the mighty Mississippi River and the shipping industry:
Updated impact to the US corn and soybean agricultural belt is summarized as follows (from drought map link above):
As of last week, 87% of the U.S. corn crop, 85% of soybeans, 63% of hay, and 72% of cattle areas were experiencing drought. Over half of the corn and soybean areas are experiencing Extreme (D3) to Exceptional (D4) Drought. This has led to both reduced yields and earlier harvests.
We live in the Ohio River Valley in Kentucky at the border where the Ohio divides Kentucky from Southern Illinois that is an area of exceptional drought. Even though people cheered at the first rain a few days ago, that first rain after a drought is kind of like water drops to a hot stove: pfssssst. We will need several soaking rains. This morning I took a walk and put water and food out for the few birds that are out. The only other animal I noticed was a lizard. He did not want to be photographed, so I took these photos:
(Note: Click to enlarge any of the flickr photos in this post)
Given the dearth of corn these days, there is concern among folks we have spoken with out and around, that the ethanol requirement is cutting into the already dwindling livestock feed supply. On the shortage of hay, I had a sad conversation with a neighbor who has riding horses. She said that when she attended her last riding club, she learned that some horse owners are selling their horses (I assume for slaughter but I was too stunned to ask) because there is not enough food. I have a family member who owns horses in Indiana, who is not showing or otherwise exercising horses, in an effort to reduce the stress of increased energy requirements on the horses.
In other odd news, low water levels in reservoirs, called “water drawdown” is associated with increased methane emissions, according to this WSU- Vancouver study and covered in this TPM article. It stands to reason that drought can lead to low water levels in reservoirs like the one you see in this article. What to do with all that methane? Well, landfill methane is being used to power prison generators, according to this article.
Speaking of landfills, as you know, we try to keep good things from going to the landfill by retrieving food from dumpsters. We were stunned to find the other day, of all things, corn, in a dumpster. We reasoned that some of the sweet corn must be coming from irrigated gardens somewhere, because there is not any corn growing around here.
The State of the Climate Report is here.
WeatherDem’s latest analysis titled, NASA & NOAA: July 2012 Was 12th, 4th Warmest On Record, is here.
A wildlife impact article by Jim Low titled, Drought affecting Missouri fish, wildlife, forests, is here.
The Department of Defense “purchases approximately 94 million pounds of beef, 64 million pounds of pork, and 500,000 pounds of lamb annually.” They are looking to increase purchases due to the increase in drought-related livestock slaughter, and their statement is here.
Drought conditions and heat are connected to incidents of West Nile Virus, as this article, titled, “Ohio health officials confirm 9th case of West Nile virus, mosquitoes test positive statewide,” explains.
CDC’s 2012 West Nile Update August 14 page is here.
More photos:
Iowa:
Iowa corn photo by USDAgov, creative commons, flickr with summary:
President Barack Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack visited the McIntosh family farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa, on Monday, August 13, 2012 to view the drought stricken crops. The federal government has already taken some steps to ease farmers whose crops are growing poorly this summer, and the administration plans to spend close to $200 million on livestock, officials announced earlier in the day. The Department of Defense is encouraging vendors to buy meat to ease the crisis. USDA photo by Dave Kosling.
Colorado:
Photo by USDAgov on flickr
Aerial views of drought affected Colorado farm lands, 69 miles east of Denver, Colorado on Saturday, July 21, 2012. Green areas are irrigated, the yellow areas are dryland wheat crops. USDA photo by Lance Cheung.
21 Comments
if it’s ok, here’s something from the drought in 2011 in Texas: All of these things will apply in drought stricken lands.
“An epic Texas drought is grinding away at increasingly fragile wildlife populations.
Songbirds, denied the seeds and grains and insects that sustain them, are forced to rely on food provided by people. Rabbits, squirrels and other small mammals can’t feed spring young, and that’s having an ultimate effect on populations of predators such as foxes, bobcats and coyotes.
White-tailed deer, Texas’ signature animal, are hurting too, just when spring fawns are at their most vulnerable. Does instinctively know that the fawns are a drag on their bodies, and they will abandon their young to keep themselves alive.
“The fawns are not doing real good right now,” says Dale Schmidt, a Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist in Llano. “I’m getting quite a few calls on fawns down, and it’s probably not over yet.” People are finding fawns either abandoned by their mothers or just struggling to survive on very sparse habitat, and they’re calling biologists hoping to get some help.
http://www.statesman.com/sports/outdoors/texas-drought-grinding-away-at-wildlife-populations-1577871.html?printArticle=y
Maybe I posted that before, can’t remember. If I did, my apologies.
I posted this comment before bu the last time I was through the area – just west of me – the Erie Canal through Valley View was bone dry.
Next problem if the water levels get to low barge traffic becomes a problem.
http://www.fb.org/index.php?action=newsroom.newsclip&id=69736
Sept, Oct is when farm products start moving down barges assuming current river levels barges will be loaded only 70-75% capacity.
This alone should increase the price in farm goods however with gas and diesel prices being high thats another factor in rising prices.
Thanks C-S for another excellent diary. We’re actually getting rain (particularly nasty storms) sporadically. (Although I don’t know if we’re officially out of drought status).
Blue
Well, I am sure that similar things are happening with wildlife ecology this year as well, thank you for posting this. Not only is it heartbreaking, the chain reaction associated with wildlife decline will affect everything.
Amazing. And, from what I can gather from the U of W Vancouver and the TPM followup article linked above, the scenario has cascade potential: Methane gases trap heat in the atmosphere, increasing the likelihood of drought, dried reservoirs and lowered water levels that produce more methane gas. I am not a scientist, but common sense says that there is a circular, or rather a potential for spiral impact to surface conditions.
A related article from NASA:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2005/methane.html
This is just exactly what has happened. The barge traffic is slowed, there have been many groundings, and barges have had to lighten loads. All of these things cost money and the cost will no doubt be reflected in food prices.
From http://www.caria.org/barges_tugboats.html:
Thank you so much Blue, and I am glad that you will be seeing some rain, hopefully.
very interesting thanks.
Welcome and a thanks back to you, mafr.
Distressing to read. Can’t even imagine the Mississippi looking like that. I hope we’re not too late to save our world. Thanks, CS.
Thanks Crane-Station. Your info is always helpful. I had not thought much of the impact on the smaller fauna. These impacts will last longer than the drought,surely. Now to read some of your links. Thanks.
” I hope we’re not too late to save our world.”
Me, too, Twain.
Yes, the impacts are surely to last longer, particularly if these drought events add up. mafr has posted information about 2011, and I have seen some of the harrowing 2011 Texas photos. I do not know what the predictions are for the next few years. I think WeatherDem has covered this in drought posts, and I hope he(?) will continue to keep us up on the predictions.
The pictures really drive home what the reality is – one can almost hear that ear of corn, posted above, gasping.
Although parts of the state I am in, are in drought conditions, my particular area is not. I have noted a larger number of birds at my feeders and have wondered if they have flown farther afield for the food and water. Hopefully the area I am in will continue to have rain.
Thank you for the diary.
mafr–
My husband has seen a large number of dead fawns over the past several months. I suppose they are desperately foraging for food, which leads them to the major highways. Thanks for the article. (I’ve never seen it.)
Blue
I am always glad to hear from people who feed birds, and I am especially happy to hear from folks who are not experiencing this. My parents in Seattle, for example, are not in a drought area, so there is still much to be grateful for. Thank you for stopping by.
The Drought Report for August 16, 2012
By Charles P. Pierce
at 2:57PM
Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/drought-food-prices-11745013#ixzz23oI45k1s
In the final analysis, it’s probably a good thing we didn’t predicate our entire nation’s energy needs on ethanol.
So, instead we predicated our nation’s entire energy needs on a rapidly wasting natural resource, a herd of people still living in the 7th century B.C.E., the slimiest financial criminals the world has yet to produce, a theocratic, fascist United States government, and either a religiously fanatical, heartless thief, or an unprincipled, pathologically lying sycophant of big business as our fearless leaders.
And what of the freedom loving American People, 50% of whom believe through a personal relationship with a third rate knock off of Horus that the ancient Akkadians and Summerians were master beer brewers before the creation of the universe: “If ‘god’ didn’t want them sheared, he wouldn’t have made them sheep.” Calvera, ‘Magnificent Seven’.
Another spin around the sun completed, and with luck I will have a chance for another complete revolution (hope I don’t get moded for the ‘revolution’ bit-gulp!).
Have a happy freak’n day, and happy freak’n birthday.
Going riding.(((C-S))))
Thanks and recommended
Sorry I’m late to your diary. Your drought reports are excellent – highly recommended!
BTW, are you familiar with Lester Brown over at the Earth Policy Institute? He’s one of my favorite policy wonks. In the early 80s he founded the Worldwatch Institute which used to issue an annual report entitled State of the World, which became must reading for environmentalists and government agencies. For a number of years he has been involved with EPI. Check out his website at: http://www.earth-policy.org
Also, C-S, have you noticed that neither the Obama campaign nor the Romney campaign have addressed the issue of climate change?