The Great 2021 North American Drought?

[soybean]

Large parts of Iowa enjoyed 5-7" of rain just 10 days ago, and its dry again already. Drought monitors still show much of the mid-west abnormally dry. I pay for two pretty good weather services and read a dozen more every week...and everybody is leaning/predicting long term dryness. A couplethree of them are saying we will see at least 1988 type dryness...if not a 1930's scenario.

 

[goldmom]

Maybe we can plant corn on the beach here. About 20 straight days of rain. No end in sight.

 

[Obviously Oblivious]

Gott is punishing western Iowa for their Republican allegiance. Actions have consequences and karma is a bitch.

 

[h-hawk]

I mentioned this before but some places where there has been water over the past 5-6 years of birding, have totally dried up. I assume many of the muskrats and turtles etc are smart enough to crawl over to where the nearest water is but it does make us wonder how many of the animals at these places will survive.

 

[An Iowa fan]

Mother Nature never intended for rivers to be channeled. For that matter that includes all moving water streams.
Heavy rains were meant to spread out to help with the dry years. Just my opinion.

If rivers were not channeled we wouldn't have 500 year floods.

Remember everything has averages.

 

[jasonrann]

It's dry as a bone here in Kansas City. Our yard feels like concrete, hasn't rained in about two weeks, nothing coming until maybe this weekend. It's unreal.

 

[SalAunese]

I think it was worse a few years back

 

[KFSuperStar]

Flooded last year.

 

[Run&Blade]

I swear they have corn and beans so jacked up on genetics they almost don’t need water. Our yard looked like burnt toast and the corn field that butts up against our yard looked outstanding.

 

[hawkeyez]

What if we built pipelines for water instead of oil? Build a nationwide system to move fresh water from flooded areas to drought prone areas. Could you move enough water to actually make a difference? Would it be economically feasible? I realize we already partially do this with dams and pools, but this would be primarily pumping uphill.

 

[jasonrann]

I swear they have corn and beans so jacked up on genetics they almost don’t need water. Our yard looked like burnt toast and the corn field that butts up against our yard looked outstanding.

100% correct, it's amazing to me. I was back in NW Iowa in mid-August in my home town. Every single yard in our little town was about 75% burned up and brown. Of course, it doesn't help when everyone cuts all their damn trees down. The corn was more than head-high. I couldn't believe it.

 

[BigDelHawk]

What if we built pipelines for water instead of oil? Build a nationwide system to move fresh water from flooded areas to drought prone areas. Could you move enough water to actually make a difference? Would it be economically feasible? I realize we already partially do this with dams and pools, but this would be primarily pumping uphill.

California wants to do this. **** em.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

Gott is punishing western Iowa for their Republican allegiance. Actions have consequences and karma is a bitch.

Gott Damnit!

 

[Accipiter]

Mother Nature never intended for rivers to be channeled. For that matter that includes all moving water streams.
Heavy rains were meant to spread out to help with the dry years. Just my opinion.

If rivers were not channeled we wouldn't have 500 year floods.

Remember everything has averages.

I think you make an important point. When I was a kid 70 years ago, it was much wetter. Not from more rain, but because the whole State wasn't tiled, and all the creeks and wetlands destroyed. There were little clear creeks, springs, and ponds everywhere, with tons of frogs and salamanders. I haven't seen a salamander in Iowa in thirty years, where they used to be common. We've mucked things up good and nobody seems to care as almost everybody is so divorced from the natural world.