The Great Drought of 2012

Of course us in east TN are only 10-20 percent behind..but just look at how massive this drought map covers

This should make it apparent how important the winter cold/snow is for the next growing season. Most of this deficit was caused by the warm and dry winter.

Corn crops are really hurting in west TN. This could get very bad.

This drought will probably exceed the drought of 2007 in terms of impact (if the pattern doesn’t change). While the 07 drought was very intense, it was mostly concentrated in the southeast U.S., with the west being impacted to a lesser degree. The “bread basket” of the nation was largely untouched. The current drought extends almost from coast to coast across the middle of the country. While it’s not as intense (yet) as the Southeast drought of 2007, with the dryness continuing and being exacerbated by occasional heat waves, it’s just a matter of time before it starts making headlines. (Actually, it’s already making headlines with all the wildfires in the Rockies.)

Strangely enough, one of the few areas actually doing better this year in the current drought is Texas and the southern Plains. But that is only because they had such a horrible drought last year.

As this year progresses, I'm reminded more and more of the drought of 1988. During that drought there were MASSIVE wild fires at Yellowstone National Park. I'm starting to believe this year is going to be similar, or possibly worse the way things are headed with this heat ridge.

I found a Wiki article if anyone wants to brush up on it..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_North_American_drought

Link to another article comparing 2012 to 1988:

http://www.missourinet.com/2012/06/27/mu-climatologist-drought-drawing-early-comparisons-to-historic-1988-89-drought/

Another news blurb stating this drought could be considered worse in many areas.

By Jennifer Decker jdecker@kpcnews.net
Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 1:00am
ANGOLA — The great drought of 1988 doesn’t have much on the drought of 2012. The current drought that stretches on is being compared to the hot, dry conditions in 1988, yet could end up being one of the driest years on record, said a meteorologist with the National Weather Service for Northern Indiana. Through Monday for the Fort Wayne area, this year’s rainfall totaled 10.6 inches, said Courtney Obergsell of the NWS.

Southern Indiana, and central Kentucky are now under red flag warnings for tomorrow. Amazing to see this now, when you usually only see high fire danger in this part of the country in early spring or fall.

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
124 PM EDT WED JUN 27 2012

...RED FLAG WARNING ISSUED FOR ALL OF SOUTHERN INDIANA AND CENTRAL
KENTUCKY FOR THURSDAY...

.STRONG UPPER LEVEL RIDGING OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS WILL CREATE A VERY HOT AND DRY ENVIRONMENT OVER SOUTHERN INDIANA AND CENTRAL KENTUCKY. DROUGHT CONDITIONS OVER THE AREA HAVE ALREADY BROUGHT SMALL FUEL MOISTURE LEVELS TO CRITICAL THRESHOLDS. ON THURSDAY...SOUTHWEST SURFACE WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 10 TO 15 MPH WITH GUSTS OF 20 TO 25 MPH. RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL BOTTOM OUT IN THE 20 TO 25 PERCENT RANGE. ALL OF THESE CONDITIONS WILL POSE AN ENHANCED DANGER OF WILDLAND FIRES THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

The new Drought Monitor has conditions deteriorating over the state, and moderate drought has now made an appearance in the East Tennessee Valley.

http://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?TN,S

WxFreak wrote:The new Drought Monitor has conditions deteriorating over the state, and moderate drought has now made an appearance in the East Tennessee Valley.

http://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu/DM_state.htm?TN,S

And the NW corner of Tennessee has now shifted to extreme.

Virtually everyone south of the 40th parallel is in some sort of dry/drought conditions, or soon will be after this heat wave (except for where Debbie dumped her torrents). It is becoming a scary situation. 2011 was remembered for its severe weather and tornado outbreaks. I’m afraid 2012 is the year of the drought.

Well Damn't...We should have got these ladies a long time ago when it started getting dry

LMAO...as much as I would love to see rain, I'd have to be pretty desperate to try that.

The ridge should begin it's retrogression toward the west today, leaving us with better opportunities for storms. Hopefully, we'll all at least see some form of precipitation this week. Local farmers sure looking for some.

just about nearly 13 inches below norms at my house for this year alone... you can walk across the grass in my yard and hear it crunch...you take away the great rains in the years of 09 10 early may those years... man we would really be hurting in the longer range of things... but its pretty bad now... i may get up early n run my sprinklers in my yard on the 4th just to keep some idiot burning my place down on the 4th. we need water n we need it now.

I think Lawrenceburg is getting close to being 20.00 inches below average. Everything is dry here all the yards are dead if you haven't watered them. The corn crops are beyond being saved. It is a bad deal here.

While we are doing better here in East Tennessee compared to mid or west TN, we’re by no means doing well, either. With the recent heat wave, short term moisture in the top soil has pretty much been depleted. Local corn and soybean crops have been severely stressed by the 100+ temps, and the lack of short term rains. Last night helped, but it was not nearly enough to keep us from slipping deeper into drought here if regular rains don’t return this week. Also, we are still going to be near 100F today, and well into the 90’s the rest of the week during times it is not raining, and that pulls a lot of moisture out of the ground that has to be replaced on a regular basis, and it stresses crops.

I feel for you all in areas west of here, especially those who depend on rain for their livelihood. It’s got to be really hard watching your crop wilt and die knowing that’s your main source of income. Hopefully, this pattern will change for all of us soon.

models arent looking as promising today as they were yesterday on any decent rain for this weekend... drought will only worsen especially west tn into middle tenn. after truncation it looks better... but i dont buy it, its to far out.

Lawrenceburg is in such bad shape right now...

Some areas may come out of a drought by this time next week. A stalled frontal boundary will cause precip to pool out ahead of it. Tropical like rains will be the name of the game but this will be very convective in nature. This means spotty coverage resulting in one place picking up several inches while 5 miles away may only get a half inch.

I wouldnt rely on the totals of any accumulated precip or qpf graphics but you can get an idea of where the precip axis will be. This is through July 12

The upcoming pattern change to cooler and wetter for parts of the country is badly needed.

ACCORDING TO THE U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR ON JULY 5, SEVERE TO EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT (D2-D4) COVERS MORE THAN A THIRD OF THE CONTINENTAL U.S. WHICH IS THE HIGHEST COVERAGE SINCE OCTOBER 2003. SEVERE DROUGHT CONTINUES ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST, MIDWEST, LOWER AND MIDDLE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS, RIO GRANDE VALLEY, CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ROCKIES, GREAT BASIN, AND HAWAII. DURING THE NEXT TWO WEEKS, SOME RELIEF IS ANTICIPATED ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ROCKIES AND PARTS OF THE SOUTHEAST.

That video with the women dancing, i have already tried that and got arrest.

I know areas in East Tennessee have certainly put a pretty big dent in any drought around here...its rained for a week solid...

windstorm wrote:That video with the women dancing, i have already tried that and got arrest.

Lol..that video might be the stupidest shit ive seen this year

The National Weather Service expects drought conditions to intensity into autumn statewide

U.S. drought biggest since 1956, climate agency says

The pool is closed in Warrenton, Missouri. Cattle ponds are drying up in Arkansas. Illinois is in danger of losing its corn crop.

Even the mighty Mississippi River is feeling low amid what the National Climatic Data Center reported Monday is the largest drought since the 1950s.

The center said about 55% of the country was in at least moderate short-term drought in June for the first time since December 1956, when 58% of the country was in a moderate to extreme drought.

The hot, dry weather in June, which ranked as the third-driest month nationally in at least 118 years, according to the center, made the problem worse. The portion of the country suffering from severe to extreme short-term drought dramatically expanded in June, up to nearly 33% from 23% the month before.

Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/16/us/us-drought/index.html