UN: Early Weather Forecasts Key to Saving Lives in Drought.
With droughts set to become more frequent due to global warming, delivering timely, long-term weather forecasts to farmers in the developing world will be key to limiting damage and saving lives, the head of the U.N. food agency said on Monday.
Droughts have killed more than 11 million people worldwide since 1900 and now affect double the land area than in 1970, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Developing countries are the most exposed, with their agricultural sectors shouldering 80 percent of all damage caused by drought, FAO says.
Better access to reliable weather data and early warning systems could help farmers in rural areas get ready to endure long spells of no rain, said FAO director-general Jose Graziano da Silva.
"Most of the times poor rural communities in developing countries don’t even know that a drought is about to strike," he told a conference at the FAO headquarters in Rome.
"People die because they are not prepared to face the impacts of the drought – because their livelihoods are not resilient enough," he said.
In Rome, FAO and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) signed an accord to increase cooperation in the face of climate change, improving agro-meteorological services to help small farmers prepare for droughts.
WMO secretary general Petteri Taalas said weather forecast accuracy had greatly increased in recent years thanks developments in satellite, computing and scientific research.
The last El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific that typically occurs every few years, subsided in 2016 and was linked to crop damage, fires and flash floods.

Big Island Drought Eases Along The Kona Coffee Belt.
(BIVN) – Drought conditions on Hawaii Island are improving, according to the latest Drought Information Statement issued by the National Weather Service in Honolulu.
Forecasters say Big Island drought recovery following the wet condition in late April “continued to a point where severe drought, or the D2 category in the U.S. Drought Monitor map was downgraded to moderate drought, or the D1 category on May 16.
Since then, the Kona slopes have been receiving ample rainfall which resulted in the removal of drought on June 15.” The rest of the moderate drought area on the Big Island has remained in place, forecasters say, with “spotty rainfall preventing a worsening of conditions but not enough to produce significant improvements.” Although the Kona coffee belt region “has continued to receive ample rainfall based on rain gage and farmer reports,” there were still reports of dry pastures in the South Point and South Kohala areas, the NWS reported.
U.S. Geological Survey data shows streams across the state had 30-day flow levels in the near normal range, forecasters said, with the exception of streams in the Kohala area, where flow levels were below normal.
According to the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, the Pacific Ocean is experiencing ENSO-neutral conditions (El Niño/Southern Oscillation) which are expected to persist through at least the northern hemisphere 2017 fall season.
There is a decreasing chance for El Niño development through the remainder of the year, NOAA says.
The Long-Lead Hawaiian Islands Outlook issued on June 15 by the NOAA Climate Prediction Center “did not show any probabilities favoring above or below normal precipitation for the state through the summer,” the forecasters reported.
“The probabilities favor above normal temperatures across the entire state through the summer.”

Satellite photos show California coming back to life after drought.
If the current California heat wave gets to be too much, take a minute—or in this case, a minute and 41 seconds—to reflect on just how lucky the state is compared to this same time last year, thanks to the friendly folks at NASA.
Just in time to put our climate in a little perspective, the space agency uploaded a video to one of its YouTube channels today—the Earth Observatory channel features footage of earthbound weather phenomena from orbit, and also for some reason many videos of beavers—titled “California Rises From Drought.” The fleeting science documentary doesn’t reveal much that most Californians don’t know already: reservoirs and snowpack vanished in 2014 and 2015 (some down to the lowest levels ever recorded), that El Nino didn’t bring as much relief as hoped, and then that the seemingly miraculous manifestation of an atmospheric river channeled huge amounts of moisture from across the ocean.
What you do get out of this, however, is some dramatic and startling satellite imagery of our fair state vacillating between looking both fair and foul.
The change in mountain snowpack over just one month in early 2017, from a barely there dusting in January to an icy blue crush in February, still seems too good to be true, even though everyone is still living in it.
Check out the action below:

Farmers stay optimistic during stable drought conditions.
POTTER COUNTY, S.D.
Drought conditions are slowly improving in the Central and Northeast part of the state with all the moisture they’ve been seeing, but is it enough and fast enough for farmers to help their livestock and crops this year?
Farm Service Agency Potter County Executive Director Kay Schmidt hasn’t heard of any farmers in her area doing a complete herd liquidation because of the drought.
"There’s gonna be less and less acres of that as it is.
People are going into a corn and bean rotation, but we are a spring wheat county and it is frustrating for them to not see that first crop," explains Schmidt.
Davis is hoping July will have above normal precipitation so crops can have a chance this year as well as pastures.
One day of rain won’t cut it, but some downpour lasting a few days might be the magic touch.
The Farm Service Agency is working with Farmers across the area to make sure they’re able to keep as much land and livestock as possible.
If you want more information on these programs or to find your county office, follow the links to the right of the article.

Ranchers face tough decisions in drought.
RAPID CITY, S.D.
(KOTA-TV) – Farmers and ranchers in western South Dakota have the opportunity to cut grass along ditches and roadways, but that will only be a temporary band-aid.
Cool Season Grasses that are found in this part of the state will only grow until the first week of July.
After that time-frame, the grasses will start to decrease in nutrition value.
"We got a little bit of precipitation this winter," said Odden, "and then we went a while without any.
Hot temperatures and windy days are not good right now."
Farmers and ranchers are now facing tough decisions.
"If it were up to me, I would graze them rather than cutting them."
Conservationists are concerned about the wildlife who use those grounds for habitat if the land is opened up too soon.

City of Anniston removes trees affected by drought.
But the city’s arborist, Danny Bussey, certainly takes notice.
"A lot of the trees we’re working on are hundred year old trees or better," Bussey said.
"So they are reaching the end of their term."
Despite old age, another factor has Bussey taking a second look at some of these trees.
"With last year’s drought it has affected a lot of the trees, mostly the older trees here in town," he said.
In response, the city is working on tree removal…evaluating them to determine if they are safe or not.
"We like to keep the trees as long as we can, but at the same time it’s more important that we keep our residents safe rather than keep the trees here," Bussey said.
"We’ve had some to come down… just this past week there were several," he said.
Bussey said it will take at least through the summer to get the city to a safe point.

Drought Disaster Loan Deadline is Today.
Today is the deadline for business owners in fifteen Alabama counties to get drought relief from Washington.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is taking applications for loans of up to two million dollars at four percent interest.
The money would go to business owners who can prove they lost income because of the extreme drought conditions last year.
SBA spokesman Jay McKenna says these loans aren’t for ranchers or farmers, who can get help from other federal agencies.
“We would help those businesses that were impacted, such as the farm implement dealer, the furniture retailer, and stores of that sort that may have been affected because the farmer or rancher was not able to make the purchases they normally would in that community.” McKenna says the SBA money can be used for things like accounts payable or payroll while a business gets back on its feet.
The Alabama counties in which business owners can apply for an SBA drought disaster loan are Autauga, Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Perry, Pickens, Shelby, Tuscaloosa and Walker.

Why do some trees die in a drought and others don’t?
Scientists from the University of California, Davis, and colleagues examined those questions in a study published in the journal Ecology Letters.
Using climate data and aerial tree mortality surveys conducted by the U.S. Forest Service during four years (2012-2015) of extreme drought in California, they found that when a drought hits the region, trees growing in areas that are already dry are most susceptible.
The research also showed that the effects of drought on forests can take years to surface, suggesting that such effects may linger even after the drought has ended.
Southern Sierra Nevada trees are most vulnerable The study said that trees in the driest and densest forests are the most at risk of dying in an extreme drought.
‘How much drought a tree can take’ "Our analysis found out how much drought a tree can take," said UC Davis Ph.D. student Derek Young, who co-led the study with Jens Stevens, a UC Davis postdoctoral researcher during the study who is currently at UC Berkeley, and Mason Earles, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University.
The U.S. Forest Service aerial tree mortality surveys in 2015 estimated 29 million trees in California had died after four years of extreme drought.
Long-term climate and competition explain forest mortality patterns under extreme drought.
ScienceDaily, 19 January 2017.
Retrieved June 16, 2017 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170119143406.htm University of California – Davis.

Researchers use weather radar to track migrating waterfowl, avian influenza.
University of Delaware researchers are part of an effort that will use weather radar to identify wetland hotspots used by waterfowl during the winter, which in turn can alert poultry growers about the potential risk of avian influenza to their farms.
UD is partnering with the University of California, Davis, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on the research, which will study wetlands in the Central Valley of California during the winter.
By identifying where waterfowl are in the valley, waterfowl biologists from USGS are able to take samples from the birds to look for prevalence of avian influenza, helping to build pathogen risk models for the poultry industry in the region.
Buler’s lab group is processing the radar data for the project and mapping where the waterfowl are on the ground in relation to poultry farms.
The lab at UD is unique in that it’s practically the only active lab using weather radar data to map bird distributions at the ground level.
Buler said the hope is for the technology now being used in California to one day be utilized in the Delmarva region.
Another component of the project is that the researchers can compare the data they are collecting to the data they collected during a previous effort in California, looking at waterfowl distributions from 1995 to 2007 that were closely tied to the availability of water.
If there is an outbreak of avian influenza and they’re very concentrated, it can quickly spread," Buler said.
"We’re interested in looking at how the drought is affecting their populations and also the distributions throughout the valley in addition to being concerned about the spread of avian influenza," Buler said.

PIERRE, S.D.
Dennis Daugaard declared a statewide emergency because of the ongoing drought conditions in the state.
As part of the State of Emergency, the state will ease haying and transportation restrictions to assist agriculture producers.
Effective immediately, farmers and ranchers across the state may cut and bale state highway ditches adjacent to their property.
The South Dakota Department of Transportation has suspended their mowing operations until July 5 to allow farmers to access more of the hay along the ditches.
The state is also authorizing producers to travel statewide without a commercial driver’s license to ease transport of feed in the drought stricken area.
With the emergency drought disaster declaration federal trucking regulations are waived for the transportation of goods such as hay.
FMCSA regulations ranging from 390-399 are waived for the next 30 days.
The permits are free and available by contacting the South Dakota Highway Patrol Permitting Office at (605) 698-3925.
For more information on state highway ditch mowing, call Greg Fuller, SDDOT director of operations at (605) 773-3256.