ALBUQUERQUE – The irrigation canals are all but dry as farmers along the Rio Grande set in for winter, holding out hope that the El Niño weather system will develop and save them from what could otherwise be another dry start to the next growing season.
The irrigation district that serves farmers in southern New Mexico already has issued a warning that next year’s allotment could be as little as a few inches (10 centimeters) of water.
While there has been a slight uptick since then, that marked the lowest level since the early 1970s.
National climate experts have been watching and waiting, but El Niño continues to tease, leaving New Mexico and the rest of the American Southwest to hang on longer until the weather pattern develops and brings more moisture to the drought-stricken region.
King is not optimistic about the development of a wetter-than-average weather pattern for southern New Mexico.
The region has endured 16 years of drought and it looks as if 2019 will continue to bring further challenges with low water supplies, he said.
(Photo: Susan Montoya Bryan/AP) The Rio Grande marked several record-low flows this year, prompting federal officials to partner with the largest water utility authority in the state and others to keep the river flowing at least through the Albuquerque stretch.
Predictions include a higher probability that temperatures could be warmer than normal through February.
Eastern New Mexico is bracing for wind and high temperatures on Friday, a combination that forecasters say could result in critical fire weather conditions.
They say afternoon highs could soar up to 20 degrees above normal.

A non-profit group, Arizona’s Salt River Wild Horse Management Group, started an emergency feed program where they set up daily feeding stations so the horses could eat and drink.
(Fox News) “It’s just a humane management factor, we don’t want the horses out here starving,” said Cindy Smith, a horse volunteer.
“So, the lack of rain did not produce the forage on the ground, the natural habitat for the horses to feed and so it was imperative that we step in from a human perspective and bring them back to good health.
But these feedings aren’t supported by everyone.
The federal government’s Bureau of Land Management has a Wild Horse and Burro Program, which manages wild horses and burros on 26.9 million acres of public lands across 10 western states.
Gus Warr, a wild horse and bureau specialist for the Bureau of Land Management, said though the agency commends the work of nonprofits and wants to work with them, he’s concerned about people feeding the animals because it makes the wild horses too dependent on humans.
(Fox News) Michael Schoon, a professor at the Arizona State University School of Sustainability, said there are other ways to keep the animals alive.
“People are concerned with supplemental feedings and things like this because they’re wild and we want to keep them wild,” said Schoon.
That left much of the land where the horses roam barren.
“Back in 2015, they were in danger of roundup and removal and we’re very proud that today these horses are protected and that we can manage them humanely.” There are many efforts to keep the American West’s symbol alive and under control, but many say the important thing is to keep them wild.

Drought is a tricky hazard to prepare for in the Pacific – a silent, slow-onset disaster whose impacts may appear only gradually over months, making early warning early action difficult.
The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, the Pacific Community, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, the Tuvalu Meteorological Service and the Climate Centre together developed an ‘early action rainfall watch’ for Tuvalu that will provide simple alerts in a bulletin to assist preparedness for drought.
“The Tuvalu EARWatch will be very important to the Tuvalu Red Cross Society,” said Tusi Finikaso, TRCS Climate Change and Disaster Management Officer.
Finikaso added: “With the current strategy of taking the ‘last mile’ first, it will definitely help our communities as they will have an early-warning system that is based on scientific models they can use to determine their actions.
“In Nui and Nukufetau, for example, the branch is keen to use all tools available to them to help or influence activities at the community level.” A key component of the development of EARWatch has been to understand the relationship between a developing drought and its impacts: the atoll soils of Tuvalu do not hold moisture well and it takes less than a month for crops with shallow roots to become water-stressed.
Breadfruit, however, a staple food in Tuvalu, from trees with deep roots, copes better and is affected only after months of drought; other crops lie somewhere between.
‘Consequences’ Droughts can also have socio-economic impacts, and during extreme events the number of visitors can be restricted, community gatherings are cancelled, and schools and government offices are closed.
“Paying for Predictions was a good game for disaster stakeholders [last month] as it gave them the opportunity to experience consequences both of preparedness and inaction,” said Finikaso.
Now the National Society will have a better insight into the drought hazard that can have severe impacts in a country heavily dependent on rainfall for drinking water.
(Library photo: Rob Few/IFRC) How to help

Avalanche Canada has issued a special public avalanche warning for recreational backcountry users due to early season snow conditions.
The warning applies to the following forecast regions: Cariboos, Lizard Range and Flathead, Purcells, Kootenay Boundary, North Rockies, South and North Columbia, Vancouver Island, Sea-to-Sky, South Coast, South Coast Inland and Northwest Coastal.
For a map of the regions involved visit Avalanche Canada’s website.
After a prolonged drought in late November and early December, the province has been hit with a series of storms that have dropped a significant amount of snow.
This new snow is not bonding well to the old surface that formed during the drought, said Avalanche Canada communications director Mary Clayton.
“After all this rain in the valleys, backcountry users are going to want to hit the alpine but that’s where the danger is greatest,” said senior avalanche forecaster for Avalanche Canada, James Floyer.
READ MORE: Avalanche Canada in desperate need of funding “There’s a very weak layer now buried anywhere between 60 and 150 centimetres.
Any avalanche triggered on that layer will definitely be life threatening.” In the Cariboos, Avalanche Canada advises natural avalanche activity has decreased to some degree, however, warns the potential for human-triggered avalanches remains likely.
Meanwhile, they warn anyone accessing higher elevation terrain to be aware of this hazard.
This means skiers and boarders leaving ski resort boundaries and snowmobilers riding at or above the treeline.

Kabul, 16 December 2018 – The People and Government of Republic of Korea has donated around USD 2.2 million in support of most vulnerable children and women affected by displacement due to drought.
The contribution will protect 21,000 families, more than half are children, from the harsh winter season.
With the onset of the winter the situation is quite dire,” says Adele Khodr, UNICEF Afghanistan Representative.
Children who are already suffering from malnutrition and weak immune systems are more vulnerable to cold winter weather, and I thank UNICEF for taking the lead in helping those children in a prompt and timely manner.” The internally displaced children are in desperate need of assistance.
Many continue to live in makeshift structures, tents and inadequate shelters that will expose them to sub-zero temperatures, heavy snow and strong winds.
Of the over 19,000 children screened in the provincial Herat and Badghis IDP settlements, more than 1,300 were found to be severe acute malnutrition (SAM) cases and were referred for treatment at facilities in both provinces.
Over 3 million people including an estimated 1.6 million children are affected by the impact of drought across the country.
The number of food insecure population is likely to increase to over 6 million people during the winter season.
UNICEF will continue to prioritize its winterization response.
Media Contacts Alison Parker Chief, Communication, Advocacy and Civic Engagement UNICEF Afghanistan Tel: +93 (0) 730 72 71 10 Email:aparker@unicef.org Feridoon Aryan Communication Officer UNICEF Afghanistan Tel: +93 (0) 730 72 71 15 Email: faryan@unicef.org

Funding is still available to help drought-stricken producers with bills such as vehicle repairs and school expenses, the Red Cross says.
The Red Cross raised more than $11m earlier this year through its Help Aussie Farmers appeal, which is now being distributed by the Country Women’s Association.
So far about $8.5 million has been allocated to families throughout Australia, with the Red Cross urging producers who haven’t applied to check if they are eligible.
Funds are being distributed as $3000 grants to cover bills and other costs such as school expenses, vehicle repairs or medical expenses.
To be eligible applicants must live in a drought-declared area and have agricultural activities as their primary source of income.
Applications can be made through the Country Women’s Association or the Rural Financial Counselling Service in Victoria.
In Queensland more than $2.5 million has already been allocated to more than 1000 families.
The story Producers urged to check Red Cross drought funding first appeared on Queensland Country Life.

Bengaluru: The expectation of moderately good rain after a decent southwest monsoon had encouraged farmers to sow more rabi crops in Karnataka, but with at least 20 more talukas likely to be included in the list of drought-hit areas, the farmers maybe heading for uncertain times.
Almost 50% deficient rainfall during the northeast monsoon has affected 120 out of the 176 talukas, or administrative units in Karnataka.
Government officials said that though the southwest monsoon was classified as normal, the spread was poor, leaving several districts under water, while most others recorded poor rainfall.
Almost 70% of the state’s agriculture depends on monsoon rain, with little irrigation infrastructure.
Gangaram Baderiya, principal secretary of the state’s revenue department, which assesses drought impact, said that the total drought-affected talukas will be finalized by the end of December.
The kharif season in Karnataka depends on the southwest monsoon, while the rabi season depends on the northeast monsoon.
According to data by Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, till 9 December, 86 of the 176 talukas received deficient rainfall during the southwest monsoon, or kharif season, while 162 talukas received deficient rain in the northeast cycle, or rabi season.
What adds to the farmers’ woes is that the much-hyped ₹49,000 crore farm loan waiver announced by the H.D.
Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July, is yet to be implemented fully.
The development in Karnataka comes at a time when opposition parties are mobilizing protests across the country to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party-led centre on farmers’ woes in the run-up to the 2019 general elections.

Herat (Afghanistan) (AFP) Wheat and opium farmer Murad Khan Ishaqzai, 80, has never seen a drought as bad as the one ravaging western Afghanistan where more than 250,000 people have been forced to abandon their homes.
After his crops dried up in Gormach district of Badghis province earlier this year, Ishaqzai rented a truck and drove his family hundreds of kilometres through Taliban-infested areas to the neighbouring province of Herat.
There, he and his family of seven took refuge in a squalid camp on the rocky outskirts of the provincial capital where aid agencies are struggling to meet growing demand for food, shelter and sanitation.
"The farms were destroyed, our livestock perished, and we left our donkeys in the desert because we couldn’t feed them any more," said Ishaqzai, his face weather-beaten by a lifetime of working in his field.
It was only the second time in his life that drought had forced him to leave his land.
But with Afghanistan ranked as one of the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, it may not be the last.
The UN is spearheading international efforts to reach 2.5 million of the three million most in need of food by mid-December, UN humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan Toby Lanzer told AFP previously.
Conditions are miserable in the camps where families displaced by the drought have settled as temperatures drop across the country.
He and his family have a canvas tent provided by an international humanitarian group.
Ishaqzai, whose health is failing, wants to go home.

Here is a look at the causes behind lack of water in Iran 1) One of the causes of water scarcity in southern Iran and the rest of the country is because of extensive and generally non-scientific dam building by Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).
The lands that have been dried up by these dams are grounds for particulate storms.
The dam was built on a salty ground.
However, the project continued, and the result was that not only the water behind the dam became salty water, but also many of Khuzestan’s land suffered irreparable damage due to water salinity.
In July, people of Khorramshahr came to the streets for lack of drinking water.
This city is located near the Karun River, but it does not have drinking water.
5) Also in July in Borazjan, which was suffering from lack of water and people were protesting, the IRGC attacked Kazerooni farmers’ pumps and killed one of the farmers.
Drying of Lake Orumiyeh is partly due to 80,000 deep wells dug around it.
9) Mohamad Nasari, representative of Khuzestan province in the Supreme Council of the Provinces, said: “The problem of water salinity in some cities in Khuzestan is serious.
Water salinity in some cities in Khuzestan such as Shadegan, Abadan and Khorramshahr, is the same as the salinity of the sea and the transport of water with tankers does not provide the people’s needs, and people have to buy mineral water for drinking.” 10- According to the IRNA State News Agency, in May 2018, a member of the city council said about the situation in the city of Ahwaz: "The situation in Ahwaz currently is very dangerous and volatile.

to Arizona and California: ‘We are quickly running out of time.’
Arizona and California have blown this week’s federal deadline to approve their strategies, jeopardizing progress for Colorado and the four others.
Water bosses from Arizona and California said publicly at a water conference here Wednesday that they’re close to striking deals, but privately admitted that negotiations have been stalling.
And Lake Powell serves the same purpose for the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah, which must deliver a certain amount of water to the Lower Basin each year under the terms of a 1922 interstate compact known as the Law of the River.
The deal they reached in November sets up a “demand management” program that, among other things, is designed to prod farmers and ranchers – who consume nearly 90 percent of the state’s river water – to cut their use in exchange for money at times of shortage.
The pickle The plan can’t be implemented without the three Lower Basin states having first approved their own statewide water shortage approaches and also signed off on a collective Lower Basin strategy.
Ted Cooke, CAP’s general manager, said negotiations are taking so long “not because we’re slow, but because it’s difficult.” Under Burman’s deadline, Arizona not only needs to strike a deal with Pinal County farmers, but also persuade its legislature to approve the shortage plan by the end of January.
Although the Interior Department traditionally has let states set their own policies, it could after January swoop in and dictate which water users in Arizona and California would take the hit in case of a water shortage.
Burman told reporters Thursday that the “incredible history of (states) coming together” on Colorado River policy makes her confident there will be unity moving forward.
Though nobody questions Burman’s own commitment to easing the effects of climate change on already parched western water users, they wonder if she would have the support she’d need to impose cutbacks, if necessary, on states or water agencies unwilling to make the tough choices managing their shares of river water.