For Mid-Georgia, 5th Drought In 15 Years May Preview Permanently Drier Future

[hatrack]

EDIT

The only hotter summer on record, in terms of mean temperature or average high, was in 1954, according to David Stooksbury of the University of Georgia. An associate engineering professor, Stooksbury served as Georgia’s state climatologist until recently. But it wasn’t just hot. It was a double-whammy of heat plus drought -- in fact, Middle Georgia’s fifth drought (of at least the “moderate” level) in 15 years. Remember how the last drought was hailed as a record-breaker? That one ended just three years ago.

Frequent repeated droughts can make the effects of each subsequent drought worse. Experts say this pattern has created holes in the tree canopy and long-term drops in some aquifers that can’t be recovered by normal rainfall. And if frequent droughts continue, scientists say drier weather -- perhaps partly caused by global warming -- may eventually become Macon’s new norm.

All of Middle Georgia is now in an extreme drought, with rivers and aquifers running low, according to Stooksbury. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack declared an agricultural disaster in all but nine Georgia counties. Wells are running dry and wildfire risk is extreme. Stooksbury says the drought and higher-than-average temperatures are unlikely to end soon. A La Niña weather pattern over the Pacific Ocean is expected to bring warm, dry weather through the winter, when Middle Georgia normally experiences most of its rainfall. (This is also what happened for much of last winter.)

“For the Macon area, this is starting to get close to droughts of record,” Stooksbury said. The state’s worst recorded drought was between 1924 and 1926. Middle Georgia has been in a drought for about a year. But the previous several years were wet, with Macon receiving 105 percent of its normal rainfall. “It gave us something in the bank last year,” Stooksbury said. “But we’ve been to that ATM too often. ... It’s usually in that second year (of drought) that we really start seeing some major water resource issues.”

EDIT

http://www.macon.com/2011/09/18/1707792/repeated-droughts-taking-toll.html

[izquierdista]

1. ...holes in the tree canopy....

That would be one of the changes you see going from a wetter, forested area to a drier, mixed savannah grassland area. You can see that change spatially driving from the east side of Dallas to the west side of Fort Worth. Will it happen over time here in Georgia? I think I had better go out and turn on the sprinklers.

[n2doc]

2. I look at all the beautiful old oaks in Savannah

And wonder just how long they will last. Sad.

[NickB79]

4. They should be replanting with bur oak instead of live oak

Deep taproots and all, the perfect savanna tree.

[pscot]

3. This can't be right

All those angry and dismissive letter writers keep arguing that AGW is going to be good for us.