U.S. declares drought-stricken states largest natural disaster area ever

Originally posted by kyred
This is the worst I've seen.
3 years ago we had too much rain at the wrong time and our vegetable garden turned to rot.The following year, the same. We took off a year because it seemed futile.
Now it's too dry. But we have some plants doing well.

I do recall a time when my 87 year old father, a farmer from birth, could grow his gardens without much adjustments made. We could expect the same conditions each year, with a bit of difference from time to time, but differences he could sense and adjust to. Not now. Even my pop is having a couple of bad years of growing vegies.

I've been poking deep holes around the base of vegetables, forming a wide circle (about 2.5' diameter) in order to get the roots to branch out. Many times, after harvest, it's a pity how small the root structure was-usually due to flooding, I'll add. My goal is to water far from the plants, such that the roots go deep and wide.

Now it's been dry, and for the first time in weeks we are getting a sprinkle. Nice.

I do believe that weather can be controlled, and with it, economies. This is one strong reason to be wary of any climate change banter. It will all be used for the installation of a 'stadium roof' for advanced societies, and perhaps as a weapon against 'rivals'. It makes me sick. They will screw the ecosystem just so they can charge higher prices for 'shelter', and basic necessities.

Meantime, no one need know what any of it means. Contrails are quite complex, so it's no surprise some of us see the boogieman behind every cloud wisp.

reply to post by DAVID64


Southern Illinois here and we are part of the red on the map..very severe drought. Corn can't be much past 2 ft high and tasseling already. Our grass along with everyone else is toast. Haven't mowed all summer. The dirt is dust dry and there are large/long cracks forming everywhere. It really is horribly hot and dry. My garden is done. Didn't get a single pumpkin or cucumber. Tomatoes are looking horrible yet I water every night. The 10 day will say we have rain coming but it never gets here. It will darken up and thunder and lightening but no rain. It has done this all summer..It's like we're having severe thunderstorms without rain

reply to post by Neopan100


Try making deep holes in the soil before watering. It may not be feasible to do a whole field of corn this way, but in a small patch you have greater control over the development. Roots=plant size. The bigger, the better. Also, I was cautioned against night watering, since it can bring out mold. This year I have watered even on the brightest of sunny days, and the leaves that got water splashed on them seemed unfazed by the high UV levels we are seeing this summer. You can see it in the light, a sort of bright blue added level of brightness. I'm starting to think that any water that doesn't get below the surface of the dirt is quickly evaporated, so if water is sparse, you have to think of feeding the root ends, not spraying water uniformly all over the field.

Drought sucks, but when a field is flooded, it's disastrous for the crops. A little water at the right places is better than too much water, where crops are concerned.

I've never wanted it to rain so bad ever in my life.

My lawn has been dormant for weeks and is turning into a crispy brown wasteland.

My heart goes out to farmers and others who's lives depend on the natural seasons.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
For the ATS time capsule. Are we taking bets on which way Earth is headed?

1.) Gets so hot that the Earth is triggered into another Ice age when the Ice caps melt and flood the oceans with fresh water which neutralizes the ocean currents due to lack of salinization causing a massive drop in temperature?


2.) Earth continues to heat up causing massive amounts of coastal flooding and oceanic evaporation which increases humidity and we return to a very tropical planet with mass amounts of humidity and rain forests?


3.) Just more of the same....Just Bigger!

Well who knows.....but compared to the droughts in the US, here in the UK we had a 'drought' caused by dry winters, meaning though it has rained practically non stop all year, the water tables in a lot of areas were depleted. So far this summer has been mostly rain, and flooding in a lot of areas, some so flooded the farmlands are unusable and livestock sold.

Whether this gives any insight in to your questions, I guess even the meteorologists wouldn't know for certain but the weather patterns sure aren't predictable like they used to be, it appears.

Probably proof of 'something', that 'something' could be many things or a combo of, and probably is, would be nice to know for sure.

Also it would be nice to know just how much weather manipulation is occuring and how this affects things on local and larger scales. There is probably decent research somewhere, that has the stats for at least localised manipulation and it's effects. Localised research en masse, national and international correlations would be interesting. Also knowing just how the weather would be sans manipulation.

Interesting idea that potentially, a strategic move for an emerging economy, for example, could be adverse weather manipulation of rival economies.

The drought in my state has killed my tulip tree and baby cherry willow tree. I am so pissed off over that. the heat has been over 100 up till this week when we finally got rain after 1 month and a half with no rain, trees everywhere are turning brown and dying and the ground is so dry it's cracking open. I'm hoping for a tropical storm or monsoon to blow up this way but i doubt that will happen. The weather and heat was like mid august when it was in mid june.

yeah doesn't look to good in my area of cincinnati with that week long heat wave over 100 and lack of rain grass and fields are straw.

and isn't there methods to manipulate the weather? believe i read something about the Chinese doing it for the 2008 Olympics.

which brings me to if we could manipulate the weather for good is it ethical to do so?? should we not bother messing with mother nature??

I just want to say something regarding the water supply.

I have video proof that the reservoir in my city was drained of hundreds of thousands of gallons of fresh water daily for nearly a month. The main wash, which drains directly to the ocean, was a raging river non stop for almost a month and we traced the intake to Live Oak reservoir.

This happened in La Verne California in February/March. We contacted the city asking for an explanation and received none.

It is my belief that the city purposefully disposed of this usable water in anticipation of this drought so they could justify a large raise in water prices.

I expect similar things are happening around the world. These are criminal acts and I certainly hope justice is served.

That's tough to read. Good luck America. Hopefully you all can get things back on track. 2012 people! Regardless of any Mayan Prediction, there's no doubt that this is a significant year in Human History. Something tells me that 2013 will be a better year.

The last time it rained before today brought me six cans of tree limbs, no power for two and a half days,and damn near a heart attack. They called it a mini hurricane. Today not so bad, medium wind, aprox. an inch of rain.
Still at least three inches below average. It's the time of year when it rains, it's never calm. Always has to be nasty.

Originally posted by johngrissom
This is crap.


The map labeled my state as a drought-sicken state. It has rained more this year than it even came close last year. I think last year we had one thunderstorm and then the hurricane but this year alone has been more rain. The rain season and hurricane season JUST STARTED too.


Doooooooooooooooooooooooomsssssssday BS

Hard to believe you if you dont list where you are so the rainfall level can be confirmed.

Perhaps you are unaware, but a few rainstorms does not end a drought.

I got a note today saying I'm watering on the wrong day 100$ fine if I'm caught again?? I'm pumping water out of a pond out back could get interesting if they tresspass on my property again. Lake Michigan is 300 feet away the pond is spring fed and will last forever I have city and can't afford to water from that.

wasnt it just corn crop though?

Originally posted by chadderson
The sad news for seedcorn is that they are planted in such a way that there are 4 female rows and 1 male row, repeated across the entire field.

You could think of the Tassle which every corn plant has as being the male part and the cobs which every corn plant has as being the female parts.

Originally posted by mytheroy
reply to post by Grumble

 

If you really want to know how bad it is, just look what our farmers have to say

www.agweb.com...

uggg.... i read too many of those comments. looks like corn is in bad shape and corn is in EVERYTHING. almost every post is about how bad the corn crops are.

Originally posted by chadderson
The sad news for seedcorn is that they are planted in such a way that there are 4 female rows and 1 male row, repeated across the entire field.

I gotta ask....

Since when are corn plants assigned a sex?

Last summer/fall my area in Texas was drought 4. Now they have it as D2. Have lost lots of grass, brush, trees.

Got 4.75 inches of rain over the last 4 days. The most rain in four days since 2009.

Here are my totals. Normal should be up around 42, often quite a bit more.

2012 21
2011 17
2010 33
2009 39
2008 26
2007 64

reply to post by Ilyich


Thank you for giving me my reality check of the day on why I hate humans....What a #### comment. Canada has sat back and been given all the rewards of American Imperialism. When has your government stood up against the American government? You stand on your ivory tower thinking your hands aren't dirty...pls...

This drought has the potential to cause the entire planet from being fed properly and you have the nerve to say we deserve suffering. Thats like me saying me saying we should've taken Canada by force 200 years ago.

reply to post by silent thunder


Burn more fuel, destroy more oceans, keep polluting and deny everything.

Our property has many large oak trees on and around it, and these trees are probably fairly old. They are huge, the one behind our garage has a diameter about 6 ft.

I've noticed over the last week or so, the top parts of the trees are turning brown, like its fall. Or, they are straight up dieing. Our water bill will be high due to watering, virtually everywhere I go, not one green yard - anywhere.

The city put up buckets next to trees on the center of a street and had a tanker truck watering each one of them.

Doing a tad bit of scratching around on past droughts and solar activity, led me to an interesting piece the history channel did on HAARP and the Russain Woodpecker. The episode even includes a demonstration. I thought it might be another facet to the condition. Around 13:40 mark it gets interesting on through about 20 minutes where they explain its potential as a weather modification mechanism.



And a large solar activity during 1982, but I do not know if the drought conditions coincide with this:

Heliosphere wideCosmic Ray Modulation 1982

We're about 100 yds from rivers edge, but that has made little difference - we are still dangerously dry here - N. IL