Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Return Of The Dust Bowl? The “Megadrought” In The Southwest Is Really Starting To Escalate
eotad ^ | 8/28/2020 | Michael Snyder

Posted on 08/31/2020 9:10:40 AM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal

Much of the southwestern portion of the United States has been gripped by a drought that never seems to end, and there is a tremendous amount of concern that patterns that we witnessed back during the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s may be starting to repeat. In a previous article, I discussed the extreme heat that we have been seeing in the region lately. Phoenix has never had more days in a year when the high temperature has hit at least 115 degrees, and other southwestern cities have been smashing records as well. At the same time, precipitation levels have been very low, and the combination of these two factors is starting to cause some major problems

A couple of weeks ago, NASA posted an article on their official website about the horrible drought conditions that we are now witnessing…

As the United States moves into the last weeks of climatological summer, one-third of the country is experiencing at least a moderate level of drought. Much of the West is approaching severe drought, and New England has been unusually dry and hot. An estimated 53 million people are living in drought-affected areas.

Since NASA posted that article, things have gotten even worse. If you go to the U.S. Drought Monitor website, you will instantly see why so many experts are deeply concerned. The latest map shows that nearly the entire southwestern quadrant of the country is now gripped by either “severe” or “extreme” drought. Needless to say, this is not good news at all for farmers and ranchers in the region.

Colorado is one of the states that is being hit the hardest. At this point, more than 93 percent of the entire state is experiencing very serious drought conditions…

According to United States Drought Monitor, drought conditions have gotten significantly worse in Colorado in recent days and weeks.

Last week, approximately 72 percent of Colorado was experiencing “severe” drought conditions or worse. This has now jumped to just over 93 percent.

Because things have been so dry, it is really easy for the wind to pick up dust and start blowing it around, and this summer we have been seeing some really impressive dust storms.

For example, earlier this month two giant dust storms actually “converged” in the Phoenix area…

Two dust storms converged over the greater Phoenix area on Sunday, hours after the city broke another record as a heat wave grips the West.

Thankfully, at this point we still have a long way to go before we return to the nightmarish conditions of the 1930s. The “Black Sunday” dust storm that so many history books talk about was actually 1,000 miles long, and it traveled at speeds of up to 100 miles an hour…

A month later, one of the most severe storms of the era, nicknamed “Black Sunday,” enveloped the Great Plains. It was 1,000 miles long, contained 300,000 tons of dust, and traveled up to 100 miles per hour. This weather didn’t just affect the land: Farm animals choked on dust and suffocated. At least 7,000 people died from “dust pneumonia” as a result of breathing in the fine particulates, and countless more were driven from their homes and livelihoods by the endless, swirling dirt.

Let us hope that we don’t see anything like that any time soon, but scientists are using the term “megadrought” to describe what the southwestern portion of the country is currently going through…

The western United States and parts of northern Mexico have been suffering through drought conditions on and off since the year 2000 – and unfortunately it may not let up any time soon. A new study has examined extreme droughts in the region dating back 1,200 years, and found that the current conditions have the makings of a “megadrought” that could last decades.

In fact, the lead author of that study is actually telling us that the current drought is “on the same trajectory as the worst prehistoric droughts”…

“We now have enough observations of current drought and tree-ring records of past drought to say that we’re on the same trajectory as the worst prehistoric droughts,” said study lead author A. Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University, in a statement. This is “a drought bigger than what modern society has seen.”

Ultimately, the experts don’t know how long this new “megadrought” will last.

It could theoretically end next year, or it could persist for the foreseeable future.

But if it continues to intensify, it is going to become increasingly difficult for farmers and ranchers to make a living in the affected areas.

In addition, supplies of fresh water are going to become increasingly stressed. The once mighty Colorado River is now so overused that it doesn’t even run all the way to the ocean anymore, and experts are deeply concerned about the future of the river.

In the end, this “megadrought” may force dramatic changes in cities all over the region. Sadly, things have already gotten so bad that you can see the impact of the drought “everywhere”…

“You see impacts everywhere, in snowpacks, reservoir levels, agriculture, groundwater and tree mortality,” said co-author Benjamin Cook, of Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. “Droughts are these amazingly disruptive events. Water sits at the foundation of everything.”

Those that have been following my work for many years know that I have been watching developments in the southwestern quadrant of the country for many years, and things have really started to escalate here in 2020.

What a crazy year this has been. We are still dealing with a global pandemic, 58 million Americans have filed for unemployment over the past 23 weeks, civil unrest continues to rage in our major cities and major politicians are being chased down the street, and this month we have been hit by one natural disaster after another.

Now a presidential election is rapidly approaching, and many people believe that what we have experienced so far is just the beginning of our problems.

Without a doubt, our world seems to be going absolutely nuts, and that should deeply alarm all of us.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food; Government; Weather
KEYWORDS: drought; dustbowl; famine; foodsupply; southwest; weather
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last
To: discostu
Check my previous link to the drought monitor. What you have now is not unprecedented. In the megadrought big picture, Arizona got the worst of the past 20 year deficit. But it's still nothing like past megadroughts anywhere in the west.
41 posted on 08/31/2020 9:55:43 AM PDT by palmer (Democracy Dies Six Ways from Sunday)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: moovova

Nobody farms like that any longer, do they? If not—there won’t be ‘another dustbowl’. Drought? Sure. Just nature and cycles.


42 posted on 08/31/2020 9:57:04 AM PDT by Irenic (The pencil sharpener and Elmer's glue is put away-- we've lost the red wheelbarrow)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: discostu
Here's the recent historical perspective: https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/twc/monsoon/monsoon_phx.php

Comparable two year periods: 1914-15, 1924-25, 1944-45.

43 posted on 08/31/2020 9:58:41 AM PDT by palmer (Democracy Dies Six Ways from Sunday)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: All

famine, drought, pandemic, looks like we’re all gonna die if Trump is reelected.


44 posted on 08/31/2020 9:58:56 AM PDT by newnhdad (Our new motto: USA, it was fun while it lasted.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Veto!

We just got some showers in the Panhandle here this early morning.


45 posted on 08/31/2020 10:01:22 AM PDT by Noumenon (When Hunter Biden sent out for a dildo for his strip club soiree, they brought back Adam Schiff.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: palmer

Don’t care if it’s unprecedented or not. It SUCKS. And it’s BAD. And anybody pretending it’s otherwise is DUMB.


46 posted on 08/31/2020 10:01:43 AM PDT by discostu (Like a dog being shown a card trick)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: HighSierra5

Yep, I swear I saw another scare headline over the weekend about the Biblical flood headed for California.

I’ve lived in Texas for 35 years and have survived at least two “Permanent Mega-Droughts.”


47 posted on 08/31/2020 10:05:36 AM PDT by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them wthaith a pitchfork!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Cincinnatus.45-70

I’m in New England, and I’ve lost track of how many “Storm of the Century” scares I’ve been through.


48 posted on 08/31/2020 10:07:07 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (If White Privilege is real, why did Elizabeth Warren lie about being an Indian?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana

HERE is what Bourke had to say in the book ON THE BORDER WITH CROOK, about the 1870s heat in South Arizona....Whoever transcribed this to on line made many spelling errors.

https://archive.org/stream/ontheborderwithc002470mbp/ontheborderwithc002470mbp_djvu.txt

Chapter 1, page 12.

“The temptations to drink and to gamble were indeed great,
and those who yielded and fell by the way-side numbered many
of the most promising youngsters in the army. Many a brilliant
and noble fellow has succumbed to the ennui and gone down,
wrecking a life full of promise for himself and the service. It
was hard for a man to study night and day with the thermom-
eter rarely under the nineties even in winter at noon, and often
climbing up to and over the 120 notch on the Fahrenheit scale
before the meridian of days between April 1st and October 15th ;”

And this was way before air conditioning and TRUMP could be blamed.


49 posted on 08/31/2020 10:07:21 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Roman_War_Criminal

Not good for cactus buyers...


50 posted on 08/31/2020 10:17:46 AM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bookshelf

Discover Magazine does a reasonable job of debunking these concerns from “Divulgence.net”:

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/tilt-02


51 posted on 08/31/2020 10:18:02 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Noumenon

We got about an hour of showers in Spokane too, but need more. Good luck to you, my FRiend. Keep up the prayers and rain dances. (Even my cat is doing her kitty rain dance.)


52 posted on 08/31/2020 10:35:32 AM PDT by Veto! (Political Correctness Offends Me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: Roman_War_Criminal

Dust bowl conditions returned to the Western Plains in the mid-1950’s-remembered in the area as the Filthy Fifties.


53 posted on 08/31/2020 10:36:50 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana

And we just had the worst hurricane in history, too...right?


54 posted on 08/31/2020 10:39:34 AM PDT by polymuser (A socialist is a communist without the power to take everything from their citizens...yet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: polymuser
And we just had the worst hurricane in history, too...right?

Yeah. Funny thing about these dire articles . . . they are presented as an epic catastrophe, and it doesn't even make it above the fold on page 1 of the local Commie print newspaper, or the lead story on local TV news. I actually kinda like my grass dying so I don't have to cut it.

Finally, saying "The Dust Bowl" is coming to the southwest desert is like saying torrrential flooding may come to the Amazonian rain forest.
55 posted on 08/31/2020 10:57:41 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Bookshelf

I hope you don’t actually believe any of that.

You can see with your own eyes it’s utter bunk.


56 posted on 08/31/2020 10:59:53 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Roman_War_Criminal

The red color isn’t even the highest level of drought. There is a browner color for that. Like down by Big Bend.


57 posted on 08/31/2020 11:29:29 AM PDT by crusty old prospector
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
I'm gonna channel Sam Kinison here and say: YOU LIVE IN A FREAKING DESERT MOVE!🤣😆😇
58 posted on 08/31/2020 11:38:44 AM PDT by BiteYourSelf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Wiser now

Ask the Anasazi about coping with the long term drought periods of the U.S. southwest.


59 posted on 08/31/2020 11:40:01 AM PDT by Ozark Tom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: discostu

That’s cause China’s getting all our rain.


60 posted on 08/31/2020 1:27:01 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change with out notice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-62 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson