Origins of the Historic Central Great Plains Drought of 2012:

[longknife]

Natural Variations in Weather, Not Global Warming

By Tom Yulsman | April 11, 2013 2:39 pm

A hiker in the Pawnee National Grasslands of eastern Colorado in March of 2012, just prior to the start of the historic summer drought.

NOTE: See updates below with additional graphics and information.

As the sere image above suggests, the shortgrass prairie of eastern Colorado is ordinarily a dry place. I shot it on March 17, 2012 out on the Pawnee National Grasslands, a spectacular spot off the beaten path in a state more known for its mountains.

Read more @ Origins of the Historic Central Great Plains Drought of 2012: Natural Variations in Weather, Not Global Warming : ImaGeo

Will this start a storm or not?

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - dis country been strayin' too far from the Lord...

Drought across the West spurs resurgence of faith
May 3, 2013 — Along the irrigation canal that cuts through this centuries-old New Mexico town, a small group of churchgoers gathers to recite the rosary before tossing rose petals into the water.

Remnants of a tradition that stretches back to the days of Spanish explorers, the humble offerings are aimed at blessing this year's meager irrigation season and easing a relentless drought that continues to march across New Mexico and much of the western half of the U.S. From the heart of New Mexico to West Texas and Oklahoma, the pressures of drought have resulted in a resurgence of faith — from Christian preachers and Catholic priests encouraging prayer processions to American Indian tribes using their closely guarded traditions in an effort to coax Mother Nature to deliver some much needed rain.

On Sunday, congregations across eastern New Mexico and West Texas are planning a day of prayer for moisture and rain. "We're worried, but we're maintaining our traditional ways and cultural ways. Together we pray, and individually we pray," said Peter Pino, administrator of Zia Pueblo. "We haven't lost hope in the spiritual world, that they'll be able to provide us resources throughout the year. "We're not giving up. That's pretty much all we can do at this point." In its wake, the drought has left farmland idle, herds of cattle have been decimated, the threat of wildfire has intensified and cities are thinking twice about the sustainability of their water supplies.

In New Mexico, the renewed interest in the divine and the tension with Mother Nature stems from nearly three years of hot, dry weather. There is no place in the country right now that has it worse than New Mexico. The latest federal drought map shows conditions are extreme or worse across nearly 82 percent of the state. There are spots that have fallen behind in rainfall by as much as 24 inches, causing rivers to run dry and reservoirs to dip to record low levels. In neighboring Texas and Oklahoma, the story is no different. The faithful gathered Wednesday night in Oklahoma City to recite a collection of Christian, Muslim and Jewish prayers for the year's first worship service dedicated to rain.

The Catholic bishop in Lubbock is planning a special Mass at a local farm in two weeks so that farmers can have their seeds and soil blessed. The archbishop of New Mexico's largest diocese has turned to the Internet and social media to urge parishioners to pray. The prayer is simple: "Look to our dry hills and fields, dear God, and bless them with the living blessing of soft rain. Then the land will rejoice and rivers will sing your praises, and the hearts of all will be made glad. Amen." In Bernalillo, the parishioners from Our Lady of Sorrows church recited the rosary as they walked a few blocks from the church to the irrigation canal on a recent Friday evening. At the front of the procession, two men carried an effigy of San Isidro, the patron saint of farmers.

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[OohPooPahDoo]

Will this start a storm or not?

No.

 

[editec]

The midwest, especially in areas like OK are basically desert.

Periods of drought (lasting decades) are fairly common.

In fact, calling those periods droughts is probably a misnomer.

When there are periods of rain, those are actually the deviations from the norm.

For example, the GREAT DSUTBOWL didn't happen because the weather was unusual.'

It happened because the couple decades period of unusually high amounts of rainfall ended.

That is why protecting the the groundwater is so damned important for this nation.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Their faith in AGW is unshakable. The models say its AGW, so be it

 

[Old Rocks]

The warming is a trend upward imposed on the natural variations of the normal climate. You simply cannot state one event is caused by it. However, when you get a series of events, such as a couple of one hundred year floods, and a thousand year flood, all in a decade, and you see similiar occurences around the world, then you have a trend that demostrates the effects of the warming.

 

[SSDD]

The warming is a trend upward imposed on the natural variations of the normal climate. You simply cannot state one event is caused by it. However, when you get a series of events, such as a couple of one hundred year floods, and a thousand year flood, all in a decade, and you see similiar occurences around the world, then you have a trend that demostrates the effects of the warming.

Except that you have these things happening during a time in which even the climate science community has acknowledged that there was no warming. What you have is a hysterical granny waving her hands claiming that the world is coming to an end and pointing at everything under the sun as evidence whether it is evidence or not.

 

[skookerasbil]

Linkage between climate change and drought is beyond gone. There is exactly zero evidence of it. Severe drought has been happening forever and a day........and I have posted up graphs of it dating back to 1880 many times.

But Im sick and tired of this nonsense.

 

[FireFly]

Natural Variations in Weather, Not Global Warming

Here is the hidden truth quote from your article: “That’s not to say that climate change isn’t happening,” says Martin Hoerling, a research meteorologist with NOAA in Boulder, CO, and lead author on the report. “It’s just not contributing to this event.”..."The research suggests factors other than human-caused climate change have played a much bigger role. And those are the ones that researchers need to understand the most in order to predict the next flash drought in advance."

What they are trying not to admit is that the Federal Government caused the Pawnee National Grassland to turn into a desert. Governments & land owners around the world have caused this on over half the land on the planet because of misguided environmental policy & ideals. Turning half the planets lush prairies into these deserts is what is causing global warming, not the other way around. The government is trying hard to deflect & not admit to their wrongdoing.