US prays for rain, then more rain
Prolonged drought hits farm, city and tourist industry alike but things could get worse, water-resource expert warns.
More fires to come this summer?
WASHINGTON - Drought has parched the soil, dried up once-reliable wells and all but emptied drinking-water reservoirs right across America.
Rural folk and city-dwellers alike are feeling the pinch from the shortfalls of rain and snow.
Scientists calculate that severe or extreme drought has spread over 21 per cent of the country.
More than half of all states have been affected, among them almost every single state along the East Coast.
Only those along the West Coast and the Mississippi Valley have been spared.
The total area stricken by drought is only slightly larger than normal for this time of year but experts say the severity and persistence of the drought is much worse.
'What's unusual is we're seeing some pretty intense multi-year droughts,' said climatologist Mark Svoboda of the National Drought Monitoring Centre.
Also unusual is the winter drought that has gripped the Eastern seaboard from the northernmost tip of Maine to the southern coast of Georgia.
Despite the arrival of spring rains, soils and reservoirs in the East are still dry.
Unless there are torrential rains in the next few months, residents of Philadelphia, say, or New York might not be able to water lawns or wash cars this summer.
The drought is already having grave consequences in rural communities.
More than 1,000 wells have gone dry in small towns in Maine, where some residents have been forced to haul drinking water from springs in other towns.
Farmers in the south-east are facing stunted crops.
Ranchers on the Northern Plains are being forced to sell off their herds, even their land.
And marina owners, innkeepers and outdoor guides in tourism-dependent towns from New York to Wyoming are praying for wet weather.
'Keep your fingers crossed and think snow for the West, it's about survival,' said Mr Dick Larsen of the Department of Water Resources in Idaho, where snow season lasts until mid-April - melting snow is crucial to filling reservoirs in the West.
Last month was the nation's second-driest February since reliable record-keeping began in 1895.
The autumn and winter period from Sept 1 through Feb 28 was the driest for Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Carolina and Virginia and the second-driest for Maryland, North Carolina, Rhode Island and West Virginia.
Maine had its driest winter in the 108 years that records have been kept.
Contrary to a common perception, normal swings in climate, not global warming, are to blame for drought, experts say.
Mr Reagan Waskom, a water-resource specialist at Colorado State University, warned of more trouble ahead this summer.
'If things don't change, what you're going to see on the news is fires,' he said.--USA Today |
