Wondering how bad the current drought in the U.S. is? This Weather Channel post provides the comparisons in a succinct way. Even more succinctly – be thankful for better agricultural practices!
Things are tough all over!
Posts Tagged ‘drought’
Putting It In Perspective
Posted in Climate, tagged climate, drought on July 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Hot and Dry
Posted in Ag and Natural Resources, Climate, tagged climate, drought, New Normal, regions, water resources on July 18, 2012| Leave a Comment »
From Al Gore’s blogging gig, an image of the future – and the present. Interesting to compare it to this map – especially the blue swath through Tennessee and Mississippi. The Northeast and these two southern states look like future “best bets.”
1,000 counties in 26 states declared as disaster areas
Effect of Texas Drought on Trees
Posted in Climate, tagged climate, climate adaptation, drought, environmental protection, future, resilience, trees, urban heat island on April 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Jim Robbins, author of a forthcoming book called The Man Who Planted Trees, has an op-ed in today’s New York Times that alerts readers to the mounting threats to trees and the reasons why the planet needs them more than ever. The lines below caught my attention, especially the repercussions from the Texas drought that I discussed in a post last summer.
North America’s ancient alpine bristlecone forests are falling victim to a voracious beetle and an Asian fungus. In Texas, a prolonged drought killed more than five million urban shade trees last year and an additional half-billion trees in parks and forests. [Emphasis added.] In the Amazon, two severe droughts have killed billions more.
The common factor has been hotter, drier weather.
Texas-Sized Drought and Fire Emergency
Posted in Climate, tagged climate, drought, Texas, water resources, wildfire on September 6, 2011| 1 Comment »
Even for Texas, this is BIG. An interactive map created by ESRI, showing fire locations and links to social media accounts (like YouTube videos), can be found here.
Today’s Precipitation-Rich and -Poor Regions
Posted in Ag and Natural Resources, Climate, tagged climate, drought, future, GIS, national trends, regions, water on July 28, 2011| 1 Comment »
Susan Riya, Director of the New York State Water Resources Institute, shared the following map with the State of Upstate conference attendees in June. I have been thinking of this map ever since. The map was derived from the hydrologic landscape regions of the United States dataset published by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2003. It depicts the ratio of potential evapotranspiration (PET) to precipitation (PPT).
Hydrologic Landscape Regions of the U.S.
What is striking to me is the blue swath that runs from the tip of Maine to Louisiana as well as the lighter blue area along the Eastern Seaboard. I have called many communities in these two regions home; I know the landscape well. The map depicts current conditions, and I am eager to see similar maps that depict projected change. I know that New York State is expected to remain water-rich, and I suspect that much of the darker blue region will as well. But the area along the seaboard, especially the Southeast (portions of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia), has already been experiencing droughts, and I fear that the region might be much drier in the future. Personally, I think it would be heartbreaking to see the steamy lushness replaced by crunchy dryness! The other effect is that the cool, water-rich places will be very attractive to people escaping the heat and dry conditions. New York State – get ready for a resurgence in population!
Praxis in Landscape Architecture 