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Sun, 22 Oct 2017
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Drought


Sun

Despite historically wet winter, Oregon moving toward drought

Lauren E Hernandez
Statesman Journal
Sat, 02 Sep 2017 19:47 UTC
© MOLLY J. SMITH / Statesman Journal
Boats on the Willamette River on Saturday, Sept. 2, 2017, near Salem's Riverfront Park. The high for Saturday was forecast for 104 degrees; the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory lasting until Tuesday.
Salem recorded its hottest August temperatures since records started being kept in 1893.

The five warmest Augusts have taken place in the last five years, said David Elson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service - Portland.

"It's pretty clear that something is going on that we are changing our climate," said Kathie Dello, deputy director of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University. "We're seeing climate change impacts already and we need to think about resiliency toward these 100-degree days."

The hot, dry conditions in the Mid-Willamette Valley are a result of a persistent pattern of the growing drier conditions and lack of rain.

Salem recorded just .15 inch of rain on August 13 - the only day there was precipitation in August.

Average rainfall for Salem in August is .45 inches.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory that will remain in effect until 10 p.m. Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to creep into the high 90s on Sunday, hover around 100 degrees on Monday and may reach 103 degrees on Tuesday.

"Normal temperatures would be around 80 degrees around this time of year," Elson said. "We'll be in the ballpark for record temperatures in the next few days."

Oregon is abnormally dry and on the cusp of drought conditions, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
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Water

60 million Pakistanis threatened by toxic ground water

Andrew Masterson
Cosmos Magazine
Thu, 24 Aug 2017 04:43 UTC
© Tasawar Khanam, COMSATS
Collection of samples from a dug well in the Gujrat district of Punjab province in Pakistan.
The largest ever assessment of water quality in Pakistan has found that as many as 60 million people are at risk because of high concentrations of arsenic in ground water on the Indus Plain.

The study, conducted by a team led by Joel Podgorski from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, measured arsenic concentrations from 1200 sites across the country, most of them hand- and motor-operated pumps.

Using the test results, Pogorski and colleagues then constructed a "hazard map", factoring in statistical estimates of arsenic movement through groundwater. The results suggest that much of the Indus Plain contains arsenic levels above the maximum recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The study - published in the journal Science Advances - confirms and extends the results of recent previous, smaller studies.

In February this year the journal Environment International published a paper assessing the health risks posed by consuming a diet based on arsenic-laced water in Pakistan.

The research, led by Hifza Rasheed of the University of Leeds, UK, used questionnaires to establish the average intake of water, rice and wheat per person. It found that daily water and wheat consumption were both higher than current WHO recommendations, while rice intake was below par.
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Sun

Drought kills 2 million animals in Ethiopia


Vanguard
Sat, 12 Aug 2017 13:08 UTC
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said that two million animals have been lost to a "devastating" drought in Ethiopia.

The UN agriculture agency said that the drought had devastated herders' livelihoods as it exhausted pastures and water sources.

It said the current food and nutrition crisis was significantly aggravated by the severe blow to pastoral livelihoods.

"For livestock-dependent families, the animals can literally mean the difference between life and death - especially for children, pregnant and nursing mothers, for whom milk is a crucial source of nutrition.

"With up to two million animals lost so far, FAO is focusing on providing emergency livestock support to the most vulnerable pastoralist communities through animal vaccination and treatment, supplementary feed and water, rehabilitating water points, and supporting fodder and feed production".
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Sun

12% of Montana is in exceptional drought - a once-in-a-century event, says NOAA scientist

SAM WILSON
Billings Gazette
Tue, 01 Aug 2017 06:51 UTC
© CASEY PAGE
The sun sets over Swords Rimrock Park on the Rims on Sunday. July was one of the hottest and driest on record for Billings and elsewhere in Eastern Montana.
July was one of the hottest and driest on record for Billings and elsewhere in Eastern Montana, intensifying extreme drought conditions that have gripped much of the region this summer.

In July, Miles City recorded only trace amounts of precipitation throughout the entire month, tying with 1988 as the driest July on record. In Glasgow, year-to-date precipitation is less than half of the average, and is the lowest seen in 110 years.

"One of the problems we have this year is you need moisture to have moisture," Glasgow-based meteorologist Tanja Fransen said. "In a dry year without the moisture, your clouds are higher up, so what rain does fall has to fall a lot farther to hit the ground."

In its weekly report released July 27, the U.S. Drought Monitor classified nearly 12 percent of Montana as under "exceptional" drought conditions - the service's most extreme grade for drought. That area, stretching across the northeast portion of the state, jumped from just 1.5 percent of the state's land area that met those criteria one week earlier.

"Generally, that would be a kind of one-in-a-hundred-year event," said David Miskus, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who is one of the 12 authors for Drought Monitor.

The last time any part of the state reached "exceptional drought" was in 2005.

Comment: Dan Wogsland; executive director of the North Dakota Grain Growers Association (NDGGA), estimates 40% of the western North Dakota wheat crop has been rolled into hay. He added, "Everyone remembers 1988, but a lot of people say it's not been this dry since the 1930s."

2017: The year that food becomes an investment - Prepare for a food crisis now

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Sun

Pope shuts off Vatican fountains for first time in living memory as Rome suffers with drought


RT
Tue, 25 Jul 2017 20:33 UTC
© Max Rossi / Reuters
All 100 Vatican City fountains, including two Baroque masterpieces in St Peter's Square, will be shut off in the coming days as a drought sweeps Rome and other parts of Italy.

Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said it was the first time the Vatican could recall turning off all of its fountains and reflected Pope Francis' views on the environment.

"This decision is very much in line with the pope's thinking on ecology: you can't waste and sometimes you have to be willing to make a sacrifice," he told Reuters.

"This is the Vatican's way of living [in] solidarity with Rome, trying to help Rome get through this crisis," Burke added.

While the decision is likely to upset summer tourists who look forward to viewing the Vatican's famed fountains, water conservation is being widely encouraged as Rome's authorities consider the introduction of strict water rations.
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Bizarro Earth

Rome faces water rationing as city bans pumping water from drought-hit Lake Bracciano

Crispian Balmer
Reuters
Sat, 22 Jul 2017 09:06 UTC
Authorities have ordered a halt to pumping water out of a lake near Rome following a prolonged drought, a decision that could force city officials to impose water rationing in the Italian capital.

The head of the local Lazio region, which is centered on Rome, said on Saturday the ban on withdrawing water from Lake Bracciano would come into force on July 28.

"Sadly, it is a tragedy," Nicola Zingaretti told Tgcom24 TV station. "The truth is Lake Bracciano has fallen too much and we risk an environmental disaster."

Acea, the utility firm which runs Rome's water system, has said that two years of lower-than-average rainfall have dramatically reduced water levels in reservoirs feeding the city, with a prolonged, ongoing heat wave making matters worse.

Comment: Rome water fountains run dry as heat wave sparks 'exceptional' drought across Italy

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Ice Cube

Forget extreme temperatures: Nothing kills as many people as moderate cold

Joanne Nova
JoNova
Sun, 16 Jul 2017 20:00 UTC
© The News Tribe
Some are scoffing at the idea that rising heating costs will kill people. But check out the number-one temperature-killer in 74 million deaths across 13 countries. It's not the extremes that we need to worry about, the deadly phrase is "mildly suboptimal temperatures". Look at the blue finger of death in the graph below, starkly showing how irrelevant "extreme heat", or any other ambient temperature zone, is.

Do you need an excuse to turn the heater on in winter? Low ambient room temperatures will thicken your blood.

Moderate cold accounted for as many as 6.6% of all deaths. Extreme temperatures (either cold or hot) were responsible for only 0·86%.

Join the dots — will we save more lives by:

a) making homes cold now in the hope that lower "carbon" emissions will,

b) mean less deaths from heat in 90 years time despite people probably having better access to heaters and air conditioners?

Would you sacrifice ten years of your life...
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Info

Extreme weather 2017 caused by cosmic rays not CO2, the grand solar minimum amplifying effect

Adapt 2030
YouTube
Fri, 14 Jul 2017 06:48 UTC
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
Inversion of weather extremes is the theme of the year on Earth in 2017, extreme cold wipes out vineyards in Europe through May, but now record heat. In the USA record floods turn fields in to lakes, but now record drought in crop lands. All time record droughts reversed in California and Florida in a matter of months, Australian wheat crop plunges by 40% from 2016. What no body is talking about are cosmic rays causing all of this. There will be a 19% increase of cosmic rays over solar cycle 25 which will make all of theses weather anomalies of 2015 until now look small in comparison. Are you ready?


Comment: See these related articles for more information:

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Attention

U.S. food price rises: Spring wheat up, winter wheat up, pork & beef up

Adapt 2030
YouTube
Fri, 30 Jun 2017 08:43 UTC
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
With drought over the Dakotas after a soggy start to the 2017 spring wheat planting season, the crop is in peril of above 70% losses, this was preceded by a 35% loss of winter wheat across the USA. Now Canada is forecasting lowered yields as well. You need to ask yourself where else it is happening planet wide also. These are the types of events that are related to grand solar minimum unstable growing patterns that occur every mini ice age. Prices will rise further from this point, and if the same pattern repeats next year, food prices will more than double.


Comment: 2017: The year that food becomes an investment - Prepare for a food crisis now

      Read More...
Sun

Rome water fountains run dry as heat wave sparks 'exceptional' drought across Italy


RT
Fri, 30 Jun 2017 06:35 UTC
© Andrea Ronchini / Global Look Press
Rome's traditional water fountains will be shut off for the first time in more than 140 years as a punishing heat wave continues to affect much of Italy.

The fountains - nicknamed 'nasoni,' or big noses for their long nozzles - are a source of relief for residents and tourists alike during the hot summer months, continuously dispensing water on piazzas and street corners.

The water, which is drawn from the volcanic Lake Bracciano to the north of the city, will be stopped Monday.

"We know perfectly well the inconvenience that this will cause, but it is due to the exceptional drought," Paolo Saccani, the head of the utility company that manages the fountains, wrote in a letter to Virginia Raggi, Rome's mayor.

Local authorities are alarmed by the falling level of the lake in recent months - but while the city has laid the blame for the measures on the heat wave, others have highlighted the city's poor plumbing and infrastructure.
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