More Than 60 Percent of U.S. in Drought

so? what other trends might follow because of this global warm-dry period?

one theory, Wheeler Weather Cycle, holds that the globe goes thru 4 different
cycles of weather; cold-dry, cold-wet, warm-wet, Warm-Dry

thru historical research Dr Wheeler notes that during Warm-Dry periods::
~which present weather conditions suggests we are in~

[[During Warm-Dry cycles, good (i.e. democratic) governments decline
and decay under bureaucratic tyranny and plutocracy or dictatorial oligarchy.
Totalitarian govt's reach their climax while temperatures are highest...

...as the warm-dry period continues, as imperialism increases, and as the state
becomes militarized, the reactionary movement becomes Absolutistic and
Totalitarian, whether under a King, a Duce, a Furher....
(or 'The Decider' as GW Bush suggests he is) ]]

~~~~~~

seems that socio-geo-political jockeying, and Nature itself
are three agents of change seemingly painting humanity into a corner...

source:Wheeler
~has pop-ups/ads~
scroll down page to read his quotes & not just my paraphrase, tks

Con Ed asks Midtown East to reduce power

Electrical equipment problems, reportedly with a transformer, prompted Consolidated Edison to urge its customers in Midtown East to discontinue using non-essential electrical appliance and equipment until the equipment is fixed...

The utility is asking all residents and businesses between 40th and 14th streets from Fifth Avenue to the East River to shut off any unused or unnecessary appliances.

Outages throughout the five boroughs and Westchester County left 23,700 customers in the dark on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, but by early Thursday morning, Con Ed said that number was sharply reduced to 5,600 customers.

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In Portugal the situation got a little better than was expected in the beginning of the year, when some regions reached a state of severe drought.

In the end of July 97% of Portugal was in a slight drought, with 2% in a moderate drought and only 1% in normal conditions.

Apparently, the conditions here are better than on the US, but we must remember that there are deserts in the US, and deserts have a tendency to expand.

According to a Portuguese scientist, one of the consequences of these longer periods of drought is that the rain, when falls, falls harder and with bigger drops, destroying the soil and giving better conditions to the desertification process.

Drought 'making some species extinct'

Thousands of fish are dying, ducks are catching botulism and some species of wildlife are being driven to extinction from some waterways as the impact of drought spreads nationwide, government experts warned today...

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Drought in Texas staggers farmers

Direct economic losses from the current drought are estimated to have eclipsed the $4 billion mark in Texas, far surpassing the damage done when it stopped raining in 1998 and reminiscent of the infamous 1950s dry spell, Texas Cooperative Extension economists said Friday.

"It's every bit as bad as it was in parts of the state during the worst of the '50s," extension agronomist Travis Miller said Friday, explaining that the intensity of the current 18-month drought has been similar to the severest times of that six-year drought.

Worse, there's not much hope for many producers even if the weather suddenly changes.

More...

gosh it just wont end will it.

Right now it doesnt look like the grocery shelves are feeling the reprocussions yet... but its only a matter of time before the prices start to jump. that is jump even more after the fuel cost increases take efffect that is.... who knows a couple ears of corn could soon cost over 7 bucks!

anyway good work loam.. way to keep on top of this.... still.