Drought.....w-a-t-e-r, w-a-t-e-r please!

[bluesjuke]

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/drmon.gif



Red is Extreme
Brown is Exceptional, I'd rather be extreme.

[paranoid70]

Southern California was under drought status for a few years until we had a really wet winter. Strange that we got pulled out of the drought this year, but Texas has had a really dry spell. (I get the feeling that we will be back to drought status soon enough.)

[Mr. Kite]

I'm in Houston and I've never seen anything like this before. I can grab my fence posts and move them back and forth about 2 feet. Big cracks in the dirt. It looks like the surface of Mars. Let it rain rain rain...

[ford]

Yep...drought and fires... not a good summer/ week for Texas...




houston is down over twenty inches in rainfall so far..maybe more..

[hk45acp]

instead of a road infrastructure program we need a huge irrigation infrastructure program. A huge system of pipelines and pumps to pump water from flood zones to drought zones.

or just move

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

Are the roads heaving up? That clay down there likes to move around a lot and crack up roads and home foundations if there isn't enough rain. Sounds like a big giant bummer. I wish you guys would get a giant hurricane to come up that way and plaster you with 2-3 days of rain. :mmm

[RSRD]

Wish I could give you ours. Non stop downpour for 3 days. Crazy weather.

[Julia343]

From what my sister has been telling me, Houston has been in drought conditions for the past several years.

[tiktok]

instead of a road infrastructure program we need a huge irrigation infrastructure program. A huge system of pipelines and pumps to pump water from flood zones to drought zones.

or just move

Read it and weep:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41iLUHqN12L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/Big-Thirst-Secret-Turbulent-Future/dp/1439102074/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315505861&sr=1-1)

[Guitar Josh]

It's rained here on the East Coast for about a week. If I could move this system I would.

[mmolteratx]

Yup. It's real bad. I've heard there were a couple of bad fires in Austin this last week and I'll be heading back up there this weekend. We did have a couple mornings of drizzle in Richardson though last week.

[buddaman71]

Our drought in Oklahoma is reaching pre-apocalyptic proportions. It's scary

[BluesForDan]

wish we could send some of our rain your way, just had 3 days of it, after a hurricane/tropical storm last week, and torrential downpours the week before.

And yet in 4 days, if it doesn't rain again, my yard will be drier than a popcorn fart. WTF?

[hellbender]

Don't drink your urine, it has toxins and way too much salt.

that's all I have.

[smcgov]

the NE has had rain for about a month straight....I feel like I life in the NW....non stop

[bluesjuke]

Put drought map back up in OP that I had posted this AM.
Somehow it disappeared.

[wilblee]

We've had over 1000 homes lost to fire since Sunday (and the number keeps climbing), just in the area between Bastrop and Liberty Hill, Which includes the Austin metropolitan area and the Bastrop fire is only 30% contained. It was scary when everybody you knew in any area of agriculture was getting pummeled. It's way past scary now.

[Blue Light]

A couple months ago I drove from Austin back up to the northeast where I live. It was all dry in Texas and after Arkansas, boom, lots of wet. Tons of wet. When I crossed the Mississippi River in Memphis, it appeared to be five miles wide.

So I thought: why not build some canals from the Mississippi over to Texas?
They did that in California years ago -- there are canals that run from the Colorado River over toward Palm Springs. It can be done. There are a few folks who wouldn't mind a job digging. And that river's just gonna barrel out into the Gulf of Mexico, anyway.

[tiktok]

A couple months ago I drove from Austin back up to the northeast where I live. It was all dry in Texas and after Arkansas, boom, lots of wet. Tons of wet. When I crossed the Mississippi River in Memphis, it appeared to be five miles wide.

So I thought: why not build some canals from the Mississippi over to Texas?
They did that in California years ago -- there are canals that run from the Colorado River over toward Palm Springs. It can be done. There are a few folks who wouldn't mind a job digging. And that river's just gonna barrel out into the Gulf of Mexico, anyway.

Moving water a long ways is a real hot-button issue, and only going to get worse. Everyone who has water can imagine not having water, and clawing those gallons back is hard.

[Doodad]

Scorched here in Atlanta, and GA in general. Lost my garden vege and parts of my lawn I have had in place since about 1996.

[Shiny McShine]

instead of a road infrastructure program we need a huge irrigation infrastructure program. A huge system of pipelines and pumps to pump water from flood zones to drought zones.

or just move

I'd rather opt for less people.

[flavorengine]

crazy

we are building a pipeline for oil from canada to texas, but a water pipeline from the mississippi river to texas isn't even discussed during a drought of this magnatude.

shows where the money is

[bluesjuke]

I thought that was stopped?

[lspaulsp]

I just found out I know someone who lost a house in the fires.
His house and his daughters house next door.
Sad, it never been this bad here. My yard is brown.

[ldizzle]

man... our foundation has dried up most of our doors wont close unless we soak it.

[Julia343]

Can't tap the Mississippi. It's needed for moving cargo.

[bluesjuke]

Heard on the radio today that a La Nina is forming in the Pacific and that will mean less rain for Texas than usual for the next year or two and the drought may go longer than that.

[guitarist58]

I thought that was stopped?

Last I heard it was a go (just caught brief mention on the news the other day).


You all certainly have been in my thoughts--they've been showing a lot of the fires on TV here in So Cal... living near the foothills of the San Bernardino mountains, fires are something I can really identify with. That one that took out 900 homes in 2003 came really close to our house. And now I hear the Texas fires have turned deadly. And then there's all the other bad things from the drought in addition to the fires...

I keep hoping and praying one of those tropical storms will make it up through Texas and give everyone some relief.

_

[greggorypeccary]

instead of a road infrastructure program we need a huge irrigation infrastructure program. A huge system of pipelines and pumps to pump water from flood zones to drought zones.

or just move

The folks in Canada and the northern states aren't too keen on sending their Great Lakes water to the people who chose to build cities in arid regions.

But keep in mind, these things are cyclical too. A good tropical storm or two can change that map pretty quickly. A month ago most of NC was in a moderate drought, but Irene took care of that.

A bigger issue is the removal of water from aquifers as that is a lot slower for nature to replace.

[Killcrop]

Move to Michigan. This has been the wettest summer I can remember. It been raining since last Saturday.

[Relicula]

I'll trade you water for your tweed pro;)

[tiktok]

The folks in Canada and the northern states aren't too keen on sending their Great Lakes water to the people who chose to build cities in arid regions.

Yet we'll send electricty thousands of miles to people who chose to build cities that don't have their own natural supply of electricity. See also: food.

[lspaulsp]

man... our foundation has dried up most of our doors wont close unless we soak it.

:agree

I just had to cut a 1/4" off the bottom corner of my front door. If it ever rains, I'll probably have to buy a new front door now. At least I can open it. Had to put a dead bold on the inside so I can lock it. None of the strikers match now. Watering doesn't help. I'm 6' above the water table.

[bluesjuke]

I'll trade you water for your tweed pro;)



Might want to rethink how much water that's going to require.
Texas is awfully big!

[Scott Whigham]

It rained last night for at least 10 minutes where I am (North Dallas). I could smell it when I woke up and opened the door this morning...

[bluesjuke]

What a good smell it is too after being so long.

As I've said before I just those when we do get some it's steady and not a heavy downpour all at once.

If it is there is an awful amount of dusty ground that's going to wash away fast.

Hay prices seem like they're approaching Gold prices.

[BT Scott]

I live in N.W. Houston. We have probably had two good rains all year. Ashes have fallen like a light snow for the last couple days from the fires in the area. Not sure if a hurricane would be a bad thing.

[teestone]

I'm in central/west Texas on my father-in-law's cattle ranch. One by one the lakes have dried up, the grass, what little is left, is all dead and burned to a crisp, less and less cattle can be kept without water. Even with city water piped in, it's difficult to keep livestock. We're about to send 400 cattle to South Dakota instead of selling them off like most people have done with theirs. Dry is an understatement...Texas is burnt.

It amazes me how little you hear about the drought in the national news unless there are fires. Most people outside of Texas don't have a clue. Apparently, they've been in this drought for 9 years! It's sad...no other way to put it.

Until the high pressure system moves away, I can't see how any rain is going to make it here. The system is just sitting over Texas and has for a long, long time. It usually sits over Arizona and New Mexico but has moved east and hasn't moved.

A solid 3-4 inch rain followed by a heavy 10-12 inch rain a week later would be great. A turd floater all in the same downpour would just run off since the ground is so dry. However, it would probably help in filling up the lakes.

Please let it rain!!!

[lspaulsp]

Officially MINUS 25"!

[dlab]

This has me thinking back to all the folks making fun of water conservation in that other thread.

[bluesjuke]

The 103 yesterday, 106 today, and 103 again tomorrow sure doesn't help.