With the end of the tropical storm season in sight, it is not looking good for the drought in the south-east US
Particularly since we have entered a la Nina and the winter forecast is for "warm and dry"
This is from the 1999 drought - this one is worse.
Atlanta, Georgia, now has about 75 days of reservoir water left, at which point they will need to pump "dead pool" water from below the intakes.
It is not clear if enough water can be pumped, nor how drinkable it will be - though it should be fine for watering golf courses.
If the region doesn't get a LOT of rain by the new year - sustained rain adding up to many inches (one large storm won't help too much because of run-off from dry hard surfaces) - then the city will be in trouble.
Some smaller towns up in the mountains are already dry and are trucking in water, and drilling wells looking for ground water.
You can't do that for multi-million people cities.
The problem is foreseeable, there has been time to do something about it.
But there is no backup plan!
Really, no actual plan - just wishcasting, too-little-too-late token measures, and academic plans for how to deal with the next drought, if we start now and figure it won't actually come for decades.
Apparently deliberately so, since the people in charge feel it is not their duty to plan for trouble, anticipate difficulties or provide contingencies.
It'll all be sorted if-and-when.
In the meantime, pray for rain, if you're so inclined.
It won't help, but it might make some people feel better between now and christmas.
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Oh, sweet. And in the same time Mexico is experiencing one of its worst floods ever (it's like Katrina in Tabasco, sans the storm).
But there is no backup plan!
Deliberate? In the case of New Orleans, it is not hard to imagine to how certain groups benefited from the utter disregard of levees and the resulting destruction of the city and exodus of poorer people.
Oh boy, Marcy et al. have discovered fifth planet around 55 Cancri -- http://www1.nasa.gov/vision/universe/newworlds/exoplanet-20071106.html !
What's also cool is that the additional data have "straightened" the orbits of the previously known planets which were believed to be eccentric. All the planets seem now to have almost circular orbits.
I have a rather large amount of family that will be impacted by this drought. Many of them moved from wet (not to mention cold) midwestern places to go to the booming southeast for jobs and cheap living. Apparently, the taxes are really low.
Most of them want to move again, including my grandmother who wants to move back to land of clouds and snow. There is more to life than cheap living.
yeah, 55 Canc is looking interesting, the exoplanet circular just had it
lots of new transiting planets also
need to write it up
Real Soon Now
The drought in the Southeast was, of course, emenently foreseeable, as were the results of an extended drought. No one wanted to do anything, because anything seriously intended to prevent the results of the drought would harm development. And we can't be harming development, now, can we? The Atlanta chamber of commerce released a statement calling this drought a dress rehearsal for the next drought. They are deeply into denial around Atlanta, and their only two solutions are prayer and grabbing up any loose water that they haven't already claimed. And westward across the border in Alabama, which has a similar if not worse drought, the big businesses in Huntsville (a major military and NASA contractor center) water their huge lawns every single day, and sidewalks and streets at the same time. And a new commercial development just opened after filling a 10-acre lake. It's what you get when you compound drought with stupidity and greed.
Relax everybody, the backup plan has been located:
Rabbis for Rain
Well, it is 2:10 now and I just checked accuweather.com precipitation radar
Everything in the east is north of the Mason-Dixon line...
Plan B I guess.
Ministers and Rabbis. Now don't you have some Native-Americans there too, maybe they can do an old rain dance. Sounds more effective to me since the south has been praying very hard for a long time now and this is the result. Time for some new plan.