The local Dutch news-media keep telling us about the enormous drought in the U.S.A.
In particular that the American grain harvest is suffering.
And give a sad prophecy for the next period
Worldwide prices will rise for food and maybe in some countries people shall suffer starvation.

Is it that bad?

It is a pity our two countries can not mix their climate.
Here we are waiting for the sun.
Till now we only had a few days with sunshine and the rest of time it is cold and raining.

I live close to the beach and lot of tourists (mostly from Germany) come to our village to spend their
holidays with swimming in the North Sea.
And are very disappointed at the moment.

I added two pictures to give you some impression:

A rainy day at the local Naval Base

and a very optimistic lady at our beach getting some colour.

Regards

Jard N.

She can come to NM anytime; lots of sun here.

YES!! It really is that bad!! Here in the Northeast of the US, we are ok, but pretty much the rest of the country is desperate for rain.
These are some pictures that will just show you how bad it is, The Mississippi River is down over 18 feet alone in some areas, some reservoirs & Streams have dried up completely.

If the corn crop goes bad, then many prices will skyrocket, Many foods use corn and many farmers feed their livestock corn, so use you imagination! Some are saying 100% increase in some food items by winter time!!

PLEASE GOD LET IT RAIN IN THE MIDWEST!!!

Rock

US Drought Monitor shows all you need to see. I live in south central Kansas and I am certain that dark brown "exceptional" drought color will expand in the next few days.
http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/

The drought is very scattered as the map indicates. Some areas are having too much rain right now, actually.

Good map, Chris. Thanks !

Its not any different than what it is usually here in coastal California, but that's because we seldom have rain for 6 months out of the year here. So we will know when the rainy season hits. Last year it barely snowed in the mountains above us, which provides a lot of the water via snow melt.

My parents who live in Tennessee ( Southern USA) have had 100+ degree temperatures all summer long, which is very unusual for them.

I too do worry a bit about this because as someone else said, a LOT of the food production here relies on corn.

We have had almost no rain here in the last 8 weeks. I can think of two rains, only one of which lasted more than a few minutes. The official airport numbers say .09" from June 1- July 15. The average would be something like 6 inches. It has also been brutally hot, with many over 100 degree days and I think we've already broken our 90+ degree day record from a year ago. So at any rate, we just ended the hottest and dryest July on record. Mandatory watering bans due to low reservoirs have led to dead lawns everywhere. I just returned from Chicagoland it was actually green up there. Here everything is dead, brown. They have been comparing our rain levels and temps to cities in Arizona.

Last year was like this too, but not so bad. I really hope this is not becoming a longer-term trend, as I am an avid gardener and it is very tough in these conditions. Perhaps I should plant only cacti!

Peter

There are wet and dry cycles, some worse than others. I've seen a few in my 64
years. Don't buy the climate change propaganda that is sure to come. For one thing,
the Sun goes through cycles. The CO2 alarmists don't like to talk about the sun.

Let's not have a food panic either. Farmers are selling off cattle now due to lack
of feed. That will glut the market and drop the price for a while. A lot of the excess
will be frozen, and used in processed food. Problem with cattle, is that it takes time
to rebuild breeding stock after drought breaks. Prices will be up then.
Swine stocks can be rebuilt rather quickly by comparison. Same with poultry.

Grains, fruit, and vegetables have their own dynamics. They are grown worldwide.
It's always raining somewhere, and then there is irrigation.

Bottom line; Prices will fluctuate. Increases in monetary inflation will contribute to
increased prices.

PS. Nothing wrong with grass fed beef. That's all I ate when we processed our own
beef.

Last year we had too much rain, this year not enough.

As I am reading this, I hear thunder, and see raindrops. I think the last time I saw it rain in early August out here was in 1959, so the drought doesn't seem to be affecting Southern California, at least within 40 miles of the coast, all that much.

The people here that grow the food for this country and the world are hurting after having several good years.

Prospects are that we will be paying more for the food we eat soon.

If we could get some rain today we might get some crops, it is a little late, but they aren't dead yet!

Our natural spring that supplies the house with water during the summer is beginning to fizzle out. It's still running into the 1200 gallon holding tank on the side of the hill, but at a very slow rate. We had to turn the spring valve off at the house and run it off the well. The spring tank fills slowly, supplying us with enough water to water the garden, thank god.
I really hope the spring perks back up though, it's my favorite part of summer. I've never had a natural spring before and I just think it's the neatest thing. My dad's friends at work say it will "spring" back, but I'll believe it when I see it.
We get rain here and there, no where near as bad as the mid-west, but it' not great here either. We'll have 10 minutes of torrential rain, and then 10 days of hot, dry weather.

Can't give the latest number for my state, Montana, because the Inciweb site is maxed out, but last I checked there were 19 active wildfires in the state. Here in the western, mountainous part of the state most are from lightning strikes and burning in tough terrain covered by a forest that has been ravaged by long-term drought and pine beetle infestation, both the result of climate change. In eastern Montana (six hours from where I live) some big fires (one covered more than 200 square miles) are running before in winds in rolling range lands. Most of those are lightning caused, but every once in a while some idiot person starts one, and then it's off to the races.
I can see the Continental Divide from my back yard and have watched the trees die on that ridge for the past 15 years. My guess it's about 75 percent dead wood now, just waiting for a source of ignition.
So, to answer your question, yes, it is that bad.

Weather is weather. Here we had 12.86 inches in July, the average is 5.63.

Annual total to date is about 15 inches over norm.

I see the problems on TV and empathize. However, I live in the desert so minimal rain is not a big deal. However our monsoon season (Vegas area) hasn't produced as much rain as the past. Lake levels are down.

In Florida we have "Swiftmud", which is actually SWFWMD, or SouthWest Florida Water Management District. These guys have been bellyaching about a "Major drought" for the past 30 years. We'll have torrential rains and flooding, and Swiftmud will get on the radio and tell us it's not enough. Just what IS normal -- when the animals pair together and start lookin for an ark? Geez . . .

I remember some years ago when the new SRQ airport was being built. The construction trailer had a rain chart, where they actually measured the rainfall themselves. Actually there were TWO charts on the wall -- THEIRS, and Swiftmud's, which of course was also based on weather instruments -- at the airport. Of course THEIR chart was showing the reasons why rainfall was slowing down construction. Those two charts were different as night and day!

Anyway, tropical storm Debby came through here in June. The storm came up the gulf and sat there, right near the Big Bend area, and dumped rain on the whole state. We got drenched for nearly the entire month! Swiftmud said it's a huge improvement but we're still way below average. Yah, right.

Had a couple showers yesterday, supposed to get more today, lots of rain tomorrow. People around here are complaining that in the "good old days" we had a shower every day around 4:00 pm. Now it might be 2:30, or later at night, or maybe even in the morning. Uh, hello -- these are storms that form in the center of the state and work their way towards the coast. WHEN you get it depends on WHERE you are, and there have ALWAYS been variations.

Last night we had a car cruise at Denny's in Venice. Last month we had a shower -- on the left side of the parking lot it rained for a good half hour. The right side of the parking lot didn't get a drop. Last night -- the dark clouds were east, but radar showed we would not get it -- and we didn't. But one guy came by early and parked his Corvette in the center of the lot -- removed the T-Tops, had the hood open, etc. We joked about it -- if the rains come, he should put the tops on and roll up the windows, but he can leave the hood open . . .

I wonder how much of a factor Latitude plays? I grew up on the other side of the North Sea from you, about 5 degrees south, on the 55th Parallel.

Out here, in drought land, we're 20 degrees south of that and if I wanted to return to the 55th, I'd have to move to Alaska!


+1. Very interesting.

Yes, Jard it's bad. All the counties in the state of Kansas (area of 80,000 + square miles) are declared federal disaster areas. Other states much the same thing.

Drought is worse than it has been since 1956 and is approaching the records set in the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. Rainfall where I live is about 50% of the long-time-averages. With day after day of 100 degrees Fahrenheit and litle or no rain, that spells "disaster." There will be many farmers and livestock growers that will go bankrupt this year. USA citizens will pay higher than normal (which are already high) food prices in the coming months, maybe years, ahead.

As for global warming; I'm unconvinced we're not experiencing that. When the ice cap melts in Greenland which has never before happened in recorded history, how can that be explained? If I live long enough, the tale may/will be told. I'm afraid (unfortunately) this easily drifts into U.S. politics which are banned on this site.

Thanks for posting the link to the drought monitor site Chris.
Art