72 Percent of the US Is Experiencing Dry or Drought Conditions

Reprint of article by Julia Whitty for Mother Jones

High Park Wildfire, Colorado: USDA via FlickrHigh Park Wildfire, Colorado: USDA via Flickr

The extreme weather that began in June (see Deanna Pan’s MoJo coverage here) has rolled over into July.

Yesterday—only the first day of the month—was brutal enough to shatter 27 records and tie 24 records for the highest ever July temperatures (map below).

US monthly highest maximum temperature records set on 01 July 2012 NASA | National Climatic Data CenterUS monthly highest-maximum-temperature records set on 01 July 2012: NASA | National Climatic Data Center

More amazingly, the first day of the month also broke 6 and tied 11 records for the highest ever recorded temperatures on any date at sites in Georgia (Rome: 108°F), Kentucky (Barren River Lake: 108°F), North Carolina (Tapoco: 106°F), and South Carolina (Grnvl Spart Intl Ap: 107°F).

Extreme drought conditions fueling heatwave and wildfires: NOAAExtreme drought conditions fueling heat wave and wildfires: NOAAPart of what’s fueling the insane heat are the same extreme drought conditions feeding the wildfires out west. (Tim McDonnell’s MoJo wildfire explainer here.)

As you can see in the map above, 72 percent of the lower 48 is now classified as experiencing dry or drought conditions. And don’t expect things to get better soon.

 

July to September temperature and precipitation predictions (click for larger version): NASA | Climate Prediction CenterJuly to September temperature and precipitation predictions (click for larger version): NASA | Climate Prediction CenterNOAA’s Climate Prediction Center’s drought monitor (above) shows drought, plus anomalously high temperatures, persisting for the next three months.

Only the Pacific Northwest is expected to harbor below normal temperatures. Seattle, expect a tourist boom.

500 mb chart for 0700 30 June 2012. As high temperature dome slides into the Southeast another is developing in the Southwest:Note that another dome of high pressure is developing in the southwest again: NOAA500 mb chart for 0700 30 June 2012: NOAA The good news is that the high-pressure ridge that brought so much misery to the eastern US is slowly sliding westward.

The bad news is that another one is building behind it in the Southwest.

Heat index: NOAA via WikipediaHeat index: NOAA via Wikipedia

Making matters worse, the extremely high temperatures in the East are abetted by extremely high humidities. Aberdeen, Mississippi suffered 104°F temperatures yesterday. But its dewpoint of 84° at 3 pm made for a heat index (air temp + relative humidity) of a paralyzing 136.

Sea surface temperatures anomalies on 02 July 2012 (click for larger version): NOAASea surface temperature anomalies on 02 July 2012 (click for larger version): NOAA

As you can see in this map of global sea surface temperature anomalies, the ocean is considerably warmer than average in most of the Gulf of Mexico, and scarily above average off the Eastern Seaboard. That’s like gasoline to the flames of humidity.

(Note also the Mediterranean’s crazy hot water temps and correlate with Spain’s epic heat and wildfires currently underway.)

Tropical Storm Debby rainfall totals: NOAATropical Storm Debby rainfall totals: NOAAThe only force that’s likely to cool off US waters off anytime soon is a tropical cyclone.

The waters around Florida are currently cooler than average (see sea surface temps map, above) thanks to the devastation of Tropical Storm Debby last week.

Fire and brimstone? Or flood and havoc? Doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of comfortable middle ground anywhere these days.

Other Possibly Related AG Posts Automatically Generated

This entry was written by jcwinnie, posted on 2012-7-3 at 7:45 pm, filed under climate, energy, environment, equity, risk, water and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.

2 Comments

  1. jcwinnie
    Posted 2012-7-4 at 11:13 am | Permalink

    Bob Morris relays info from The River Network that documents how coal, natural gas, and nuclear use vastly more water than wind and photovoltaic solar.

    Water Footprint of Electricity

    The River Network in a new study Burning Our Rivers: The Water Footprint of Electricity documents how coal, natural gas, and nuclear use vastly more water than wind and photovoltaic solar, and that most of this water comes from rivers.

    Electricity production by coal, nuclear and natural gas power plants is the fastest-growing use of freshwater in the U.S., accounting for more than about ½ of all fresh, surface water withdrawals from rivers.

    Even worse, fossil-fuel plants put heated, polluted water back into the rivers creating algae blooms and killing fish. This unthinking, reckless use of water needs to end, most especially in water-stressed areas like the American Southwest. The River Network suggests investing in more efficient water-cooling technologies and wind and photovoltaic solar.

    They note that some forms of renewable energy use more water than coal and nuclear, specifically biofuels from irrigated crops and solar thermal, and should be avoided. Indeed, one of the dirty little secrets about cellulosic biofuel is that it uses substantial amounts of water, and I believe that algae biofuel is even worse. Solar thermal focuses the heat of the sun onto a central tower to power steam turbines, generally in deseerts. Thus it uses large amounts of water in precisely thise areas where water is scarce. 10% of our gasoline is now ethanol and most of that comes from irrigated crops. This ethanol production is obviously not a source of electricity but is still uses enormous amounts of water.

    But wind and photovoltaic solar use practically no water and for any number of reasons inclusing water usage, is the future for energy in the country.

  2. jcwinnie
    Posted 2012-7-4 at 11:21 am | Permalink

    The American Southwest rivers, e.g., Las Vegas, are some of the most overused for electric power , while the region is well-suited for installation of photovoltaic solar power. The challenge is investment, especially in the Grid for such successful installation, here and elsewhere in the world.

Performance Optimization WordPress Plugins by W3 EDGE