Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by treis on Monday July 12, 2021 @12:58PM
(#27812396)
As much as people like to ridicule the CC deniers for pointing to unusually cold conditions the same side loves to do it when it supports them. For the Colorado River specifically, we established "normal" during an atypically wet time and now that we've gone through actual normal to a dry cycle it's a crisis. It's the normal cyclical behavior of nature and not really Climate Change that's the issue.
Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by gilbetron on Monday July 12, 2021 @01:31PM
(#27812800)
What are you talking about? Do you have some sources explaining this? This just seems like the oft-used, "previously it was an anomaly, we are returning to normal" pseudo-science that gets dragged out about everything concerning climate change. "It's not getting hotter, we were just in a cold period".
Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by jeffbee on Monday July 12, 2021 @01:43PM
(#27812961)
Yeah, but it's true. The period during which white settlers arrived in the American west was ridiculously wet. This presentation is a little irritating, but if you scroll about 80% of the way down you'll see the chart of tree ring data that shows tree growth was at a 1000-year exceptional peak during the 20th century.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2021/jun/...
Edit: Here's a more accessible version of the graph: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6488/314/tab-figu...
Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by gilbetron on Monday July 12, 2021 @02:16PM
(#27813318)
"The only reason this drought is lagging behind that 1500s drought is because it's so young," Williams said.
Both of your links show how bad the current drought is. If the current drought miraculously reverses itself in the next several years, than what you're arguing could be true. However, it doesn't look like that will be happening - time will tell.
Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by jeffbee on Monday July 12, 2021 @03:06PM
(#27813799)
Current drought is ridiculously bad, but is exacerbated by the ridiculously wet period that preceded it.
Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by arrosenberg on Monday July 12, 2021 @01:40PM
(#27812911)
The book Cadillac Desert makes that claim. When the water rights for the Colorado River were divided up, it was based on a quantity of water measured during a wetter year.
Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by treis on Monday July 12, 2021 @02:16PM
(#27813319)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River#/media/File:Col...
It's not exactly accurate because it doesn't account for water taken out for irrigation above this particular point, but it clearly shows the natural ebb and flow of the Colorado's volume.
Re:U.S. Pacific Northwest heat wave bakes wheat, fruit crops
by arbitrary_name on Monday July 12, 2021 @12:52PM
(#27812305)
I was recently prompted to read 'Cadillac desert' which provides a very interesting summary of the development of water in the west, and the looming challenges. TLDR: it's gonna keep getting worse. Anyway, highly recommend.
The crisis, said Eric Kuhn, former general manager of the Colorado River Conservation District, can no longer be ignored. “According to Merriam-Webster, a drought is a temporary condition,” he said. What is happening, he suggested, is something more permanent and troubling. “This is aridification.”
I think it's just because the framing for so long has been "drought", when it clear that what is going on is probably more severe.
[1]: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2021-07-11/lake-m...