Tweet
http://www.agrinews-pubs.com/article...198AF54D56E5E2
Drought of 2012 born in the mountains, says meteorologist
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Share With Friend
By Jeannine Otto
NORMAL, Ill. ? If you want to see where the drought of 2012 began, look to where snows first fall, according to one meteorologist.
?The key is what happened out here. It began to get extremely dry across areas of the central and southern Rockies,? said Jon Davis, chief meteorologist for Chesapeake Energy Weather Services, based in Chicago. ?If you look at that area, that was the start of the breeding ground of heat that has been the drought of 2012 across the Midwest.?
Davis said the drought of 2012 was born in the same area and from the same conditions that brought about the drought that contributed to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the severe drought in the mid-1950s.
[snip]
Davis said that statistics can prove that weather is getting more extreme.
?If you look at Texas last year, temperatures, rainfall, really dry and then really wet during the summer. Prior to last year, the famous droughts in Texas were 1934, 1988 and 1998. Then last summer blew everything else out of the water,? said Davis of the 2011 Southwest drought, adding the story would be the same for the Midwest.
?Unfortunately, areas of the Midwest are going to have a similar configuration. You have your classic drought years, 1934 and 1988. 1936 is going to be in there. For a lot of states in the Midwest, 2012 is going to be way above anything we?ve ever seen. There?s no question we?re getting more extreme out there,? said Davis, who said the extremes can be found around the world. ?We?ve seen this globally for about five to eight years is the extremes we tend to get globally.? ...
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Share With Friend
By Jeannine Otto
NORMAL, Ill. ? If you want to see where the drought of 2012 began, look to where snows first fall, according to one meteorologist.
?The key is what happened out here. It began to get extremely dry across areas of the central and southern Rockies,? said Jon Davis, chief meteorologist for Chesapeake Energy Weather Services, based in Chicago. ?If you look at that area, that was the start of the breeding ground of heat that has been the drought of 2012 across the Midwest.?
Davis said the drought of 2012 was born in the same area and from the same conditions that brought about the drought that contributed to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s and the severe drought in the mid-1950s.
[snip]
Davis said that statistics can prove that weather is getting more extreme.
?If you look at Texas last year, temperatures, rainfall, really dry and then really wet during the summer. Prior to last year, the famous droughts in Texas were 1934, 1988 and 1998. Then last summer blew everything else out of the water,? said Davis of the 2011 Southwest drought, adding the story would be the same for the Midwest.
?Unfortunately, areas of the Midwest are going to have a similar configuration. You have your classic drought years, 1934 and 1988. 1936 is going to be in there. For a lot of states in the Midwest, 2012 is going to be way above anything we?ve ever seen. There?s no question we?re getting more extreme out there,? said Davis, who said the extremes can be found around the world. ?We?ve seen this globally for about five to eight years is the extremes we tend to get globally.? ...