Midwest droughts on an 80-year cycle
Major solar-induced drought patterns, often lasting nearly a full decade, have recurred across the midsection of the U.S. approximately every 80 years since at least the early 1600s.
We are still in the latest version of this particular long-term drought cycle. We've seen some moisture relief in parts of Texas and the eastern Corn Belt in recent weeks, but the western Midwest and much of the Great Plains remain, of this Feb. 1, 2013 writing, in the firm grip of choking drought with no significant precipitation yet in sight west of the Mississippi River.
The latest Palmer Drought Index, released by the National Weather Service on Jan. 26, showed that much of eastern Montana, all of Wyoming, most of Nebraska and large parts of the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico were still under "extreme drought conditions."
Randy Mann and I do not see a major break in the prolonged drought in the nation's heartland for at least another 60 days, maybe longer. It will take months of above normal moisture in order for these parched regions to even begin to recover from years of extreme dryness.
The last 80-year drought occurred in the Dust Bowl Era of the so-called 'Dirty 1930s.' This was one of the worst environmental disasters of the entire 20th Century anywhere in the world.
More than three million people were forced to abandon their farms when their wells and fields went dry in the Great Plains and the western Midwest. Nearly a million farmers went west to California and other Pacific coastal states to seek jobs of any kind, especially in the agriculturally rich valleys of California.
But, the main reason for the drought disaster in the central U.S. was poor land use and inept general farming techniques that saw these regions plowed up for decades before the 1930s as the planting of wheat expanded westward to the eastern slopes of the Rockies.
The natural grasses of the Great Plains could survive, in most cases, these horrible, long-lasting droughts. But, during the 1930s, and again in recent years, the wheat fields shriveled, exposing the bare earth and dust to the high winds. The resulting erosion and dust storms clogged the lungs of thousands of Plains residents. As many as 5,000 people died in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas alone between 1930 and 1937.
I should likewise mention that a preview of the 1930s Dust Bowl occurred during the 1856-65 major 80-year drought that peaked during the Civil War. The war ended and so did the drought in 1865. The 'weather slaves' were freed.
More soldiers died of the effects of malnutrition, exposure and disease toward the end of the Civil War than were killed by bullets. Parched croplands and homes in the Southeast were torched by Union soldiers that often resulted in their own demise as food supplies ran out.
Yes, Man can be his WORST ENEMY.
North Idaho weather outlook
January of 2013 featured a 12-day period in the middle of the month when the mercury stayed below freezing both day and night. We dipped to a frigid 13 degrees on Jan. 13. The day's high was only 23 degrees. Our warmest reading this January was 44 degrees on the 9th.
There were 18 days in January with measurable snowfall. A record 8.3 inches of the white stuff clogged area roads on Jan. 7. The month's snowfall total was an above normal 26 inches compared with the normal of 21.4 inches and last January's total of 25.9 inches. The seasonal snowfall total on Friday, Feb. 1 stood at a well above normal 61.7 inches at my station on Player Drive.
There were a record 26 out of 31 days this past January with fog, especially during the overnight and early morning hours. Freezing fog drizzle coated the area's trees with beautiful 'hoar frost' crystals creating a brilliant 'winter wonderland' landscape.
The total liquid precipitation during January was actually a bit less than normal at 3.43 inches. The 118-year normal since 1895 has been 3.77 inches. Last January in 2012, we gauged 4.07 inches of precipitation on our way to an all-time record 43.27 inches by the end of the year.
By my calculations, there were only 34 hours this January with sunshine, less than half the normal of 69 hours. Remember to take those Vitamin 'D' capsules during the bleak winter months.
Looking briefly down the meteorological highway, I see between 20 and 25 more inches of snow falling in the area during February, March and early April. That should bring our 2012-13 seasonal total to approximately 85 inches, about 15 inches above the 118-year normal seasonal snowfall of 69.8 inches and last season's total of 83.4 inches in 2011-12 in Coeur d'Alene.
One good thing that I see during the next 10 weeks or so is the INCREASING amounts of SUNSHINE. The days are getting longer. Spring is 'waiting in the wings.' The summer of 2013's weather looks good.
Weekly Weather Almanac
n Week's warmest temperature: 41 degrees on Feb. 1
n Week's coldest temperature: 26 degrees on Feb. 3
n Weekly precipitation: 0.02 inches
n Precipitation month to date: 0.02 inches
n Normal precipitation month to date: 0.23 inches
n Precipitation month to date last year: 0.16 inches
n Precipitation year to date: 3.45 inches
n Normal precipitation year to date: 4.00 inches
n Precipitation last year to date: 4.38 inches
n Normal annual precipitation: 26.77 inches
n Total precipitation last year: 43.27 inches
n Precipitation predicted this year: 33.46 inches
n Record annual precipitation: 43.27 inches in 2012
n All-time least annual precipitation: 15.18 inches in 1929
n Weekly snowfall: trace
n Snowfall, month to date: trace
n Snowfall, month to date last year: 0.2 inches
n Normal snowfall, month to date: 1.3 inches
n Snowfall, season to date: 61.7 inches
n Snowfall to date last season: 42.5 inches
n Normal snowfall, season to date: 52.2 inches
n Normal snowfall, entire season: 69.8 inches
n Total seasonal snowfall last year: 83.4 inches
n Predicted 2012-13 seasonal snowfall: 79.6 inches
n All-time record Cd'A snowfall: 172.9 inches in 2007-08
n Least ever seasonal snowfall: 11.2 inches in 1933-34
n Snowiest month ever in Cd'A since 1895: 82.4
inches in Jan. 1969
Readings taken week ending Sunday, 3 p.m., Feb. 3
Harris
Weather Gems