There shall come soft rains

[altivo]

Finally they raised the probability of rain to more than 50% and like a miracle, it is raining. Probably not enough accumulation to even begin to break the drought, but at least it is raining a little and has been going at it for a couple of hours. Might be a whole quarter of an inch.

Of course this lands right on top of a planned picnic (two in fact) but I don't think anyone will complain much. At least it will lower the fire hazard for a day or two. I'm afraid it's far too late to save farm crops around here.

Comments

[lhexa]

Meanwhile, Texas weather is as chaotic as ever. It kinda sucks to be at the crossroads of biomes.

[hrrunka]

It's hard to plan weather-dependant stuff this summer. Everything seems to need a plan "B", and quite a few things have had to go with plan "B"...

(It's almost getting to the point where plans "A" and "B" should swap places.)

[altivo]

Yeah, you have the opposite problem over there. We are worrying now about wells running dry, while you have to worry about moss growing on your skin.

("But there's no such thing as climate change. It's all just a liberal lie." I can't tell you how sick I am of hearing that. I guess evolution, air pollution, and lung cancer were also invented by the Democrats to cheat Republicans of their rightful control of the world.)

[hrrunka]

Back in early April we were worrying about wells running dry; a drought was declared, and water use restrictions imposed. Catch is, even though we've had a whole lot more rain than usual in the last three months, it probably hasn't even half-way replenished the ground-water reserves...

A good part of the trouble with the climate change argument is that it has become polarised around whether it's man-made or not. Some folks seem convinced that if they can prove it isn't man-made then it isn't happening at all, while others think that if they can un-do the man-made damage then it'll all be perfect again. Meanwhile, there're lessons that should have been learned from the dust bowl and other such calamities that are being ignored, and useful opportunities for adapting to change and mitigating damage are being missed...

[altivo]

Yes, I remember hearing about the "hosepipe bans." A problem in my area is agricultural irrigation, something that was rarely practiced here but has been increasing rapidly in the last decade. Those huge pump and spray rigs waste a lot of ground water by evaporation, and no one seems to have authority to restrict their use. Municipal wells and water treatment are also drawing more and more from the ground without much pressure to conserve. The nearest towns have been sprawling and expanding without control and sucking up water in huge quantities so that subdivision dwellers can fill their swimming pools and water their pointless "golf green" lawns.

Most of the irrigation here in the past was limited to orchards and nurseries that used buried drip feeders. Those are far less wasteful. Our normal rainfall is more than adequate for corn, wheat, soybeans and other field crops, but now that one in five years is a drought year, the rate of artificial irrigation is expanding.

I think the biggest problem with the climate change controversy is sheer inertia. As Al Gore pointed out, it's an "inconvenient truth." Asking people to make lifestyle changes voluntarily is very difficult, and especially when those changes are associated with social status and wealth symbols like luxury vehicles, oversized houses, lawns, and swimming pools.