Just so you know, it's still dry out here in flyover country.
Dry and warm. September and October brought a bit of relief in the form of some rain, but not nearly enough to make a real difference in cracking this drought. Sadly, after Halloween, the rain has dried up, and the the drought has worsened across the Midwest and Great Plain.
Oh, and it's warm too, far too warm for our good. While we've hit some lows in the upper twenties, two days ago it was in the seventies, in December. Highs in general have been running in the fifties and sixties. So far we've yet to have a day where the thermometer fail to get above forty.
What does this mean for you, for me, for all of us?
Well, first of all, more high food prices. The winter wheat crop is in the ground, but if it doesn't get the precipitation it needs, well, no wheat next spring. Furthermore, if the mountains don't get snow, well, none of that desperately needed snow melt next spring and summer. Also, less precipitation in the ground means less precipitation overhead which means another dry, dead year.
While the mild temperatures are a blessing for some, for most folks in these parts it is not a good thing. Certain crops, like apples, need between two and four hundred hours with temperatures below freezing in order to properly fruit next year. At this rate, these crops simply won't happen. Then there is the problem of bugs. Coming off a warm winter last year, last summer's bug infestation was horrendous. One can only imagine what two warm winters in a row will do for the bug population. Not only do bugs eat crops, but they also spread diseases like Lyme disease and West Nile virus. More bugs, more disease, less food.
Already, in a year that saw super storms, super temperatures and super wild fires, it is looking like this ongoing super drought is going to be the most costly extreme weather event of the year. At the rate we're going, it could be the most costly extreme weather event of the decade.
Just so you know.
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