“Kentucky typically has an abundant quantity of water, but projections of a changing climate over the coming decades suggest that our region on average will become wetter in the winter and spring with drier conditions in the summer and fall.
When combined with higher summertime temperatures, we are likely to become more vulnerable to drought, making the management of our state’s water resources even more important than it is today.” The Kentucky Climate Center, in partnership with NIDIS, the National Drought Mitigation Center and the Kentucky Division of Water, will host a kickoff meeting Sept. 6 in Frankfort.
“This project will strengthen the Kentucky Climate Center’s position as a provider of climate services across the Commonwealth and will build a stronger network among the agencies involved in drought monitoring and end-users in drought-sensitive sectors,” Dr. Foster said.
The project to develop the Kentucky Drought Early Warning System has four components: Soil Monitoring: Soil moisture and temperature probes will be installed at an additional 10 sites in the Kentucky Mesonet at WKU network.
Data Visualization and Analysis: A web-based data dashboard will be developed “that will enable users to assess changing climatic and hydrological conditions using data from the Kentucky Mesonet combined with data on stream flows, reservoir levels and reported drought impacts from across Kentucky,” he said.
Targeted Engagement with Managers and Responders: A webinar series will be developed “to provide regular updates on hydrologic conditions, including impacts and outlooks regarding drought,” Dr. Foster said.
Public Messaging via Information Graphics: “We will be developing information graphics to better communicate drought conditions to the general public,” he said.
Kentucky’s most recent extreme drought occurred in 2012, but significant droughts occurred in 1999-2000 and 2007.
And, a late fall drought in 2016 caused wildfires in parts of the state.
“We want to track those situations with local detail as well as possible and provide information and analysis tools to help people in different sectors manage effectively in the face of drought or extreme precipitation events.” For information about the project or the Sept. 6 kickoff meeting, contact Dr. Foster at (270) 745-5983 or email stuart.foster@wku.edu.

(Bloomberg) — Germany is likely to harvest its smallest crop in 24 years, meaning that local supply will fall short of demand.
The European Union’s second-largest grower will produce 36.3 million metric tons of grains this year, 20 percent less than a year ago and the least since 1994, according to German farm cooperative association DRV.
Production of wheat, Germany’s main crop, will drop 19 percent to below 20 million tons.
"The German grain harvest will be below its domestic consumption for the first time in a long while this year," the organization said in an emailed statement Wednesday.
Dry weather stretching from the U.K. to Russia has curbed crop development, prompting analysts to cut their forecasts for this year’s harvests.
READ: Europe’s Blistering Heatwave Is Ruining This Year’s Harvest The drought could cost German farmers at least 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), according to the nation’s GDV private insurers’ lobby.
The damages across the bloc of 28 nations have led the EU to extend aid to farmers and relax key environmental rules in some countries.
The biggest harvest declines are expected in corn, with output set to slump 49 percent this season to 2.3 million tons, the DRV said.
Barley production will fall 13 percent to 9.48 million tons.
Copyright 2018, Bloomberg

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As global climate change produces more extreme and unpredictable weather, water scarcity is a looming threat for many nations.
Australia’s state and federal governments have poured $430m dollars of emergency aid into NSW, which accounts for around a quarter of the country’s agricultural output, the BBC reported.
It’s just depressing.” More than half of Queensland is also in drought, as are parts of Victoria and South Australia states.
A shortage of feed is forcing farmers to sell their livestock, or risk them starving.
The dry weather is expected to continue over the coming months.
This weekend, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia had become “a land of drought.” Though drought is caused by a variety of factors, climate change can affect a variety of these factors.
In June, Turnbull said, “I don’t know many people in rural New South Wales that… don’t think the climate is getting drier and rainfall is becoming more volatile.” Much of the world has experienced extreme weather this year, such as heat waves, forest fires, drought and flooding.
Much of Europe and North America is currently battling through an unseasonably warm summer, which has produced record temperatures and rampant forest fires.

Australia’s most populous state is now "100 percent" in drought following the most intense dry spell in more than 50 years.
New South Wales officials released figures on Wednesday showing that every part of the state is affected, with almost one-quarter classified as being in "intense drought".
Less than 10 millimetres of rainfall has been recorded in the 800,000-square kilometre state over the past month.
Dry conditions are expected to continue for the next three months.
Farmers are among the hardest hit by the drought, which is the driest and most widespread in the state since 1965.
Starving livestock There have been reports of farmers shooting cattle and hand-feeding animals because the ground is too dry for grass to grow.
They are shooting them because they just can’t afford to feed them any more," Tash Johnston, cofounder of Drought Angels NGO, told AFP news agency.
The government also relaxed restrictions on shooting kangaroos in a bid to help farmers as the animals compete with livestock for grazing land.
"Many farmers are taking livestock off their paddocks, only to then see kangaroos move in a take whatever is left," Blair said.
"If we don’t manage this situation, we will start to see tens of thousands of kangaroos starving and suffering, ultimately leading to a major animal welfare crisis".

The Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail have joined forces with 7 News and Queensland Country Women’s Association to launch the Queensland Drought Appeal.
With the Royal Queensland Show opening tomorrow, the Appeal will be used to help lift spirits in the bush and raise much needed funds for financial support.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will today launch the Queensland Drought Appeal at the Ekka.
Ms Palaszczuk said it was one more example of Queenslanders helping Queenslanders.
The appeal is aimed at families most in need as a grassroots way of city families attending this year’s Ekka to show they care.
West of Charleville, graziers Jacqui and Cameron Tickell and their kids Lucy, Sophie and Tom haven’t seen proper rain in the six years they’ve been on the place.
Graziers are too far into the punishing dry and sold off what they couldn’t keep alive years ago.
But those left with cattle, teetering on the brink between survival and disaster, have just been hit with another blow: Animals from newer-to-drought New South Wales are being sold off, flooding the market and slashing prices by as much as half.
With no money from the land, the towns are doing it tough too.
Charities such as Rotary and the CWA been helping with bills or have been mailing out vouchers and cash cards to those struggling, urging them to accept the gift to the bush and spend them in their towns to keep them alive.

“The water comes out of the tap white, and sometimes dark and dirty, with particles in it,” she said.
“Before the hurricane, the water wasn’t like that.
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spokesman said there were “no indications that contaminated material left the facility” and infected Arecibo’s drinking water supply during the storm.
But local residents are taking no chances.
His own home was wrecked by the hurricane and he spends much of what little money he has on bottled water.
“There’s no way I’d drink the water here.
All the money that came to Puerto Rico wasn’t properly administered; it should be used to fix the things that need fixing.” Ben Bostick, a water quality expert at Columbia University, recently traveled to Puerto Rico to test water quality near three Superfund sites, including the battery plant.
In the wake of the hurricane, people desperate for water pried open wells at a contaminated site near Dorado but little information has been publicly released on water quality since.
I would say around 20% of the houses we sampled were empty because the people didn’t live in the building due to a lack of a reliable water supply.” The EPA said that virtually all Puerto Ricans supplied by the island’s water authority had “reliable drinking water”.
An EPA spokesman said: “Many will need federal assistance in order to restore reliable uninterrupted power and full system operation.

A drier-than-expected June and July has left many farmers with failing crops, a short supply of water and diminishing livestock feed.
According to the NSW Department of Primary Industries, 61% of NSW is either in drought or intense drought, while nearly 39% is drought affected.
‘There isn’t a person in the state that isn’t hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities."
Less than 10mm of rain was recorded in the western, north west, and central areas of NSW over the past month and drier-than-normal conditions are forecast for the next three months across the majority of the state.
On Tuesday, the deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, urged farmers to put their hands up for drought relief payments even if they were reluctant to do so.
We’re seeing rainfall that is more erratic, droughts that are more frequent and seasons that are hotter Malcolm Turnbull The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, insists the package is a supplement to the Farm Household Allowance, a fortnightly payment for eligible farmers totalling about $16,000 a year.
Meanwhile, Turnbull has been dragged back into debate over the impact of climate change on drought.
Joyce, whose NSW electorate of New England has been badly affected by drought, believes reducing emissions in Australia won’t change the climate.
“It will have no difference on the climate whatsoever – zero, zip, nothing.” ‘Big call’: minister refuses to link drought to climate change on Q&A Read more But the National Farmers’ Federation president, Fiona Simson, pointed to a 45% reduction in red meat industry emissions between 2005 and 2015.
“The impacts of climate change will mean that [drought and rain] events could be more extreme but they could be more frequent,” she said.

Anthony Brino | Star-Herald At Maple Knoll Farm in Solon, they’ve been keeping a close eye on their well as conditions remain dry or abnormally dry over much of Maine this summer.
“We’ve been monitoring it,” farm owner Michelle Schrader said.
“It’s going to affect more people as drought [conditions] for the third summer in a row cover a lot of the state.” According to the United States Drought Monitor, much of northern, coastal and western Maine are experiencing abnormally dry conditions.
Either way, a dug well often goes down around 15 feet or until it is below the groundwater table.
Drilled or dug, Gordon recommends keeping an eye on water levels and pressure as this dry summer continues.
“If you see a change of color, that means your water levels are close to bottom [and] bubbles could indicate low water pressure from low levels.” Gordon recommends people with dug wells conserve water usage during the dry spell and space water usage throughout the day.
“If you are seeing those bubbles in the line, it can recover in a matter of hours,” he said.
“We are always closely monitoring it,” Page said.
“We have never over-used it.” The pond can safely yield 8.3 million gallons of water a day to supply Bangor, Hamden, parts of Clifton and Eddington, and two businesses in Veazie.
“Our water supply levels are set further back from the river than in Presque Isle,” Kirkpatrick said.

And while this week will bring some much-needed rain — which could begin Tuesday evening and last into the weekend — it won’t put much of a dent in the historic dry spell, said Brian James, a meteorologist with KXAS-TV (NBC5).
Another batch of storms well north of us will help to push it south again later today … but the front itself won’t make it into N Texas until Thursday.
James said rainfall is always welcome in August, a notoriously dry month in North Texas.
Also suffering are North Texas lawns and foundations, which tend to shift and crack when the soil gets this dry.
And that means big business for foundation repair firms.
"People think it’s a problem with the system we install," she said.
North Texas has seen just 7 inches of rain from March through July.
Rain levels put the Dallas-Fort Worth area into a Level 3 drought, or "extreme."
The drought is affecting around 16.2 million Texans, or about 62 percent of the state’s population.
"There’s long-term hope for rain," Mitchell said.

A lone tree stands near a water trough in a drought-effected paddock on Jimmie and May McKeown’s property located on the outskirts of the town of Walgett, in New South Wales, Australia.
REUTERS/David Gray Nearly half of the state of New South Wales – one of country’s biggest agricultural producing regions – received around 10 mm of rain early on Monday, data from Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology showed.
The showers are a welcome boost for farmers and graziers in the state, 99 percent of which is in drought.
“Any rain is good rain.
It will encourage a bit of pasture growth for livestock producers but without follow-up showers, the impact will be temporary,” said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist at the National Australia Bank.
Short-range weather forecasts show no further showers for at least five days.
With the country’s agricultural industry warning of widespread bankruptcies as a result of the drought, Australia’s government on Sunday said it would provide A$190 million ($140 million) in payments to farmers and to support mental health initiatives and community groups.
The country’s peak rural advocacy group, the National Farmers Federation welcomed the package that will cover up to 50 percent of the full cost of transporting fodder and water for stock and taking livestock to pasture, slaughter or sale.
However, some farmers said a cap of A$20,000 per farm business was inadequate.
“In the last quarter we spent A$40,000 on transport bills so we have already reached the capped limit,” said Gavin Moore, a dairy farmer in Glenmore, 79 km (49 miles) south west of Sydney.