Global Warming & Drought May Not Be Coincidental - Durant Democrat

[hatrack]

Actual headline!

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Global warming may exacerbate Oklahoma's drought, which could endure several more years, speakers at the Oklahoma Governor's Water Conference said.

Shaun McGrath, water policy program manager for the Western Governors' Association, presented conference attendees with evidence on Tuesday that Oklahoma will warm between 3 and 6 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of the century. If that happens, water will evaporate faster, droughts may last longer and plants may have even more trouble surviving in the heat, McGrath said. Such a temperature change would reduce the amount of available water by as much as 30 percent, he said.

Dr. Ken Crawford, director of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, said warmer temperatures may put Oklahoma in a “vicious cycle” where less water is retained, temperatures keep increasing and more plants die. “My belief is there's no doubt that the globe is warming,” Crawford said. “Do I think humans are causing global warming? With some hesitation in my voice, I would say yes.”

One thing he is certain of is that six north-central Oklahoma counties are “flat-out powder dry.” Based on historical patterns, significant relief for Alfalfa, Garfield, Grant, Kay, Major and Noble counties and other parts of Oklahoma may not come for a decade, Crawford said.

EDIT

http://www.durantdemocrat.com/articles/2006/11/15/news/news1.txt

[kestrel91316]

1. Gee. maybe all those scientists actually knew what the hell

they were talking about YEARS ago when they predicted this.

Amazing.

[phantom power]

2. Crawford is still treating this as just a deviation from historic normal.

If he thinks a decade is the worst possible case, he doesn't really understand what's happening as climate change. North America could be entering 10,000 years of hotter, drier climate.

[Fovea]

3. This drought may not be breaking in OK for a long time.

Kansas, are you paying attention?
There is only so much aquifer to go around.