Mother nature has thrown East Tennessee some surprises this year, following on the heels of the 2016 drought. March 20 was officially the start of spring, but over a month ago blooms popped out all over. Then last week, temperatures dropped below freezing several nights in a row, damaging buds on fruit trees and garden flowers. Farmers are still reeling from the record-breaking drought of last summer and into the fall months. On May 31, 2016, the Weather Service reported 1.6 inches of rainfall – the last rainfall over an inch until late fall. “Farmers were forced to feed supplemental hay almost three months earlier than usual,” recalled UT Extension Agent Steven Huff. “Some folks ran out of hay. They had to decide between going out of state to buy hay or selling off cows.” Farmer Josh Longmire has 25 head of cattle. He and other farmers fed some supplemental hay mid-summer – several months earlier than normal. He was fortunate to have enough hay on hand, unlike other farmers he knows. He mows hay for a farmer who typically gets 174 bales from a large field and got only 8 bales in 2016. Precipitation for East Tennessee averages 42 to 45 inches per year. By the end of October 2016, the year-to-date rainfall was only 33 inches. Looking ahead to this year, farmers are asking if the county can expect average rainfall for the area. “The…

It’s official from NOAA, USDA, and the National Drought Mitigation Center we have a drought now in the Jacksonville area including Duval County for the first time since July of 2015. A dry pattern that brought record rain and snow to the West Coast and favored warmer and drier than normal pattern here at home…

Droughts come, and droughts go. The past two months have provided a very clear object lesson in this, as the western drought continues to be slowly erased, while key grain production areas in the Plains and Midwest see drought conditions emerge and expand. According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, released March 23, about 36% of the contiguous U.S. is experiencing conditions ranging from D0 (abnormally dry) to D3 (extreme drought). Higher-than-normal…

California and National Drought Summary for March 21, 2017 Summary March 23, 2017 – A late-winter cold snap over the eastern half of the nation contrasted with warmer-than-normal conditions from the Plains to the Pacific Coast, save for lingering chilly weather in the Northwest. The eastern cold spell was accompanied by mixed precipitation across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, resulting in widespread drought reductions. Much of the south experienced drier-than-normal weather, which coupled with recent dryness led to widespread expansion of drought. Drought conditions across the west remained unchanged, though renewed Pacific storminess was taking aim at the region at the end of the period. Northeast A late-winter storm brought widespread rain and snow to the region at the beginning of the period, further alleviating drought intensity and coverage. Precipitation tallied 1 to 3 inches (liquid equivalent) from northeastern Pennsylvania into southern and central Maine, resulting in widespread 1-category reductions of drought intensity and coverage. However, although conditions have been favorably wet over the past 90 days, lingering Moderate and Severe Drought areas (D1 and D2) have reported below-normal precipitation over the same time frame. Furthermore, these same locales are still exhibiting pronounced long-term deficits, with 12-month precipitation averaging 60 to 80 percent of normal. While streamflows have rebounded, slower-to-recover groundwater levels remained much lower than average. Despite the recent rain and snow — which alleviated the short-term (“S”) component of the drought — long-term drought (“L” on the map) remained in areas where significant long-term deficits persisted. Mid-Atlantic A late-winter storm brought moderate to heavy rain, sleet, and snow to the region at the beginning of the period, easing drought intensity and coverage. Precipitation was heaviest (2 to 4 inches) from southeastern Virginia onto the Delmarva Peninsula, where Abnormal Dryness (D0) was removed. The precipitation was somewhat lighter (1 to 3 inches) along and west of I-95, but some of the heaviest rain was well placed in northern Virginia, allowing for reduction of Moderate and Severe Drought (D1 and D2). In contrast, parts of western Virginia reported less than an inch, with 30-day precipitation deficits now topping 2 inches; in these areas, Moderate Drought was expanded to reflect the D1-equivalent Standardized Precipitation Index out to 3 months. Southeast Locally heavy rain facilitated drought reduction across the interior, while persistent dryness led to drought expansion and intensification over southern portions of the region. Rain totaled 1 to 3 inches (locally more) from western and northern Tennessee into western North Carolina as well as northern Alabama; modest reductions in Abnormal Dryness (D0) as well as Moderate to Severe Drought (D1 and D2) were made where the heaviest rain fell. Additionally, assessment from the field led to a reduction of the Extreme Drought (D3) in north-central Alabama. Conversely, rain bypassed most areas along the Gulf and southern Atlantic Coasts, with 30-day deficits of 2 to 4 inches encompassing a large area from central and northern Florida and South Carolina westward into southern Alabama. D1 was added to southeastern South Carolina and northern Florida where 90-day rainfall stood at a meager 25 to 50 percent of normal. Likewise, D2 was expanded over south-central Florida, coincident with 90-day rainfall less than one-third of normal. While a wet signal lingers out to…

Nebraskans know a thing or two about drought. Brutally hot and dry conditions pounded Nebraska in 2012 in one of the most dramatic droughts in recent memory. Lake McConaughy shrank to only 54 percent full, with an additional decline in 2013. Many ag producers saw groundwater levels fall, in some cases in dramatic fashion. There’s good news of late, though. Groundwater levels in much of the state have made major progress from 2012 due to robust precipitation. The Platte River valley, the Panhandle and the eastern third of Nebraska have seen significant groundwater…

NAIROBI, Kenya – Catholics in Nairobi delivered a convoy of aid to the Dioceses of Isiolo and Marsabit, where thousands are facing a severe drought. The convoy, carrying 80 tons of food and supplies valued at nearly $78,000, included items donated by parishes in the Archdiocese of Nairobi, following an appeal by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops in February. The diocese also sent $16,500 in cash. Bishop Anthony Ireri Mukobo of Isiolo told Catholic News Service that the convoy was “a real Lent. It’s going to save lives. “We are now embarking on distributing the food in parishes,” he added. “Some of the neediest areas are distant and the roads are poor.” He said more relief would be needed because the drought was expected to continue. As the convoy left March 17, Nairobi Cardinal John Njue said the bishops had decided to mobilize for food aid because the drought had hit half of the…

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality is concerned about the potential for a significant drought in Northern Virginia. A ‘drought watch’ advisory has been issued for all Northern Virginia and the Northern Piedmont. In the Northern Virginia region, the drought watch advisory applies to public or private groundwater supplies or private surface water supplies in Fauquier, Prince William and Loudoun counties. Water systems using the Potomac River or Occoquan Reservoir are not affected at this time, according to Bill Hayden, a department spokesperson. “New record low water levels for March have been recorded in two long-term observation wells in Fauquier and Orange counties,” Hayden…

LAKIPIA, KENYA — The smell of rotting animals permeates the air in parts of central Kenya’s Laikipia area, as lurking vultures and hyenas seem to be the only ones benefiting from the drought. Dead elephants, buffaloes, zebras, giraffes, cattle, sheep and goats dot the landscape. While some died from the drought, some of the wildlife was shot or speared to death by armed herders in search of pasture and water for their tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and goats. Ranch and conservancy owners say these herders are invading their private property — breaking fences, stealing cattle, using grass and water meant for their livestock and their neighbors’ livestock, cutting down olive trees for the leaves, even killing the owner of Sosian ranch in March when he went to check on burned houses. About 35 people have died in the unrest. “This is not the first dry season we’ve had,” said Martin Evans, chairman of the Laikipia Farmers’ Association and the owner of Ol Maisor farm. “And when this thing happened, it wasn’t a matter of drought. It was a normal rainy season when they came in. This is a politically instigated invasion, as far as we can see. They’re using the cattle as a tool, as a battering ram, to just take over private property.” As Kenya’s August general elections approach, many believe politicians are drumming up constituent support by encouraging these armed herders to take what they want. “We are very much worried because we can see this issue is political. This is not illegal grazing, this is abnormal illegal grazing,” said Mamo Abdullahi Abdi, 42, a resident of Kinamba village, next to Ol Maisor. “I know, even for us to vote in this general election, it is sad for us to vote because they want to scare us so these people with illegal guns will take over Laikipia North constituency.” Locals vs. outsiders And during this election year, some politicians have told their followers that white landowners should leave, even stating, incorrectly, that their leases have expired. Daniel Eshikon Lorangen, the area chief of Lonyek village, said politicians should not incite people with such misinformation. He said that because Kenya’s government owns the country’s land, only the government can renegotiate leases when they expire. It is not a decision to be made by herders who illegally enter private property. “So for that, I think Kenya really respects the rule of the law, and we need to respect that,” said Lorangen. But Tiziana Wangui, 35, and other villagers in Kinamba do not want landowners like their neighbor Evans to leave, because they said he helps them during difficult times. “Especially Martin Evans, he was born here, we buried his father … here, so this is their land. This is his home….

Drone footage released by ActionAid U.K. shows locals drawing water from a dried-up riverbed in Kenya. A drought in East Africa that has left more than 16 million people facing famine, according to ActionAid U.K. (ActionAid U.K.) Imagine walking three or four miles to get a drink. It’s hot, it’s dry — there’s no water where you live. You arrive at what used to be the nearest river but it’s now a beach-like strip of dirt. Yes, there is water, but it’s opaque with mud at the bottom of a small well dug in hopes of finding moisture beneath the former riverbed. The effects of climate change in the developing world is rarely illustrated in such a clear way; the water is gone, and people are enduring the fight of their lives for…

Nearly 1,000 feet below the bed of the Dead Sea, scientists have found evidence that during past warm periods, the Mideast has suffered drought on scales never recorded by humans—a possible warning for current times. Thick layers of crystalline salt show that rainfall plummeted to as little as a fifth of modern levels some 120,000 years ago, and again about 10,000 years ago. Today, the region is drying again as climate warms, and scientists say it will get worse. The new findings may cause them to rethink how much worse, in this already thirsty and volatile part of the world. “All the observations show this region is one of those most affected by modern climate change, and it’s predicted to get dryer. What we showed is that even under natural conditions, it can become much drier than predicted by any of our models,” said lead author Yael Kiro, a geochemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. The findings were just published in an early online edition of the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The landlocked Dead Sea, straddling Israel, Jordan and Palestinian lands, is earth’s lowest spot on land. Its current shoreline lies about 1,300 feet below sea level, and its floor extends down another 900 feet. Fed mainly by the Jordan River drainage, which extends also into Syria and Lebanon, it is a dead end for water, and so is extremely salty; its Biblical name in Hebrew is Yām ha-Melah, the sea of salt. In recent years, its level has dropped about four feet a year. But hot, dry weather is not the main cause yet; rather, booming populations in the region need more water than ever, and people are sucking so much from the watershed, very little reaches the…