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Southwest prepares for mega drought

Travis

Misanthrope of the Mountains
Travis
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Messages
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In case you haven't heard the southwest is heading for a mega drought. You all might have missed it with the media establishment falling all over itself to report on the cold out east that somehow proves climate change is wrong. But out west we are facing a huge disaster. My own community only now has enough water for a few more months after which point we will have to truck in all our water and we can kiss long showers or baths goodbye. Heck we are already supposed to be very sparing with our toilet flushes. And we already have mandated extra low flow toilets.

Personally.....I'm getting concerned. I mean aside from what this will do to us humans what about the effect on the local ecology?
 
If you;re wondering where your rain is, we've got it here in South East Wales. It's rained so much over the last three months that the aquifers are full and ground water levels have risen to the extent that a spring has spontaneously appeared in our front drive.

Our local pub was under 4 feet of water on Christmas Eve:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25509319

Here's a video of our local village:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPTIfyX_iWg

edited to add....

Ground water levels seem to be at levels not seen for 50 or more years. Long forgotten springs are appearing and there are landslides all over.
 
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Is that a drought by desert (which the southwest is) standards?

Got a link?
 
Travis said:
In case you haven't heard the southwest is heading for a mega drought. You all might have missed it with the media establishment falling all over itself to report on the cold out east that somehow proves climate change is wrong. But out west we are facing a huge disaster. My own community only now has enough water for a few more months after which point we will have to truck in all our water and we can kiss long showers or baths goodbye. Heck we are already supposed to be very sparing with our toilet flushes. And we already have mandated extra low flow toilets.

Personally.....I'm getting concerned. I mean aside from what this will do to us humans what about the effect on the local ecology?
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The southwest of what?
 
Polaris said:
Is that a drought by desert (which the southwest is) standards?

Got a link?
Click to expand...

We have a wet season/dry season dynamic. We are already half way through the "wet season" and have only had about two storms that dropped anything in the way of precipitation. And we know we aren't getting any once we hit the dry season.

So, yeah, people are starting to get very nervous.

bluesjnr said:
The southwest of what?
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Um, the United States. Typically defined by California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
 
Travis said:
Um, the United States. Typically defined by California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
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Perhaps not assuming that the whole JREF are US centered would prevent my confusion.

smartcooky said:
Perhaps looking at his location might help
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What? Tuolumne City, CA is supposed to mean something to me?

(maybe I should have just went with a smiley on my first response)

:boxedin:
 
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Jim_MDP said:
No, he's in the Sierra Nevada foothills but they've had a couple dryish winters in a row. I haven't skied in a decade (Go Squaw) so I haven't followed the snowpack but this graph is interesting...

http://www.thestormking.com/Weather/Sierra_Snowfall/sierra_snowfall.html

Prognosticators welcome. :p
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Go to this Caltrans link, http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/, click on the Traffic Cameras box on the left, then zoom into the Tahoe basin area and start clicking on cameras. There's an awful lot of bare ground where there should be tons of snow. :(
 
For what it's worth here's a PDF report on the anticipated climate change impact on the United States as put together by NOAA and published back in June of 2009. The section on the U.S. southwest starts on page 129.
 
But libertarians insist that greenhouse gases are a myth like gnomes and Vermont.
 
bluesjnr said:
Perhaps not assuming that the whole JREF are US centered would prevent my confusion.



What? Tuolumne City, CA is supposed to mean something to me?

(maybe I should have just went with a smiley on my first response)

:boxedin:
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Well it is to the South and West of you (assuming that the Saltire indicates your location)
 
Here in Austin a bunch of lake-side businesses (mostly restaurants) that catered to boaters have gone belly-up. They are now nowhere near the water.

No end in sight.
 
Travis said:
It seems the high pressure system causing this has been in place for 13 months. Which is unprecedented.
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Those high pressure systems always seem to settle right over Texas and stay there. When Katrina formed, it was headed straight for Texas, but hit that high pressure system and just bounced off.
 
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