Three weeks ago, the Obama administration made this dire warning :
Report: Climate change worsens Western water woes
By John Flesher (Associated Press) – April 28, 2011
Climate change is likely to diminish already scarce water supplies in the Western United States, exacerbating problems for millions of water users in the West, according to a new government report.
You can see the problem here, above Estes Park Colorado.
funny, I was a bartender at the lodge in Steamboat for three years………
Lived in Craig….
And you Left that “Mild” climate and moved to the “Unhealthy” climate of the Keys? Whatever got into you? You did not heed the warnings put forth by the Chicken Little Brigade telling you how dangero0us that region is!
You went from 38.5F yearly average to 77.8f yearly average when .5 degrees of warming will wipe out all life om the planet. Or was that 6 degrees as claimed by Lynas.
That was really brave of you to research the effects of such a drastic change in climate! 😉
LOL, I’m originally from the Keys.
I moved back to grow tomatoes!
I’m a slow learner, it took me three years to figure out Colorado has four seasons:
Mud
Rain
Snow
Drought
Mike, Steve
If any of you guys have ever been to the downstairs bar at the lounge in Steamboat, does it still have that wood block covered in epoxy counter long bar?
I helped build that if it does.
The first time we poured too much epoxy on it, and it caught fire that night! LOL
Even with an average decrease of 8 to 14 percent over the next 40 years, a single year heavy snowpack would be expected. Just what “problem” are you referring to?
Last few years have seen fantastic snow since that prediction was made.
There is no evidence that there will be any reduction in snow pack other than normal variations that have been experienced throughout the history of the region.
There are many problems related to excess snowpack and the resulting flooding downstream.
Your fantasy scenarios of possible futures do not take into consideration real world history.
Even with an increase of 8 to 25% over the next 40 years a short period of reduced snow fall can be expected.
As the snow and ice melts there will be little talk of water woes this year. There is also the issue of water extraction for use in swimming pools etc.
Australia was, until recently, complaining of drought. I haven’t heared any talk of drought recently. I wonder why?
Australia will have droughts and floods again, like they always do. And people of unstable mental state will continue to see it as doom.
Indeed, if people actually look at Australia’s drought and flood history they won’t think that recent events are anything unusual. Many think that the climate has only changed in their lifetimes.
Here is a great read.
http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/droughthistory.html
You have to wait 40 years to see what verifies. But the obvious point is that there has been absolutely no trend in the short term toward less snowpack. The exact opposite has been true.
If the last few years had record low snow pack, you better believe that the alarmists would be shouting about it from the rooftops.
People concluding long term trends either way from a few years are by definition wrong.
True, as are people who trust the output of climate models.
Daniel, this whole crap started in the 70’s, measurements, hysteria, all of it…..
That’s three decades of this crap.
They used the first two decades to prove global warming.
The last decade temperatures have been going down.
That’s not very good evidence for anything if 1/3 of your evidence points the other way.
Spent some time there in 76, March/April timeframe, wonderful memories triggered
All of Texas is in drought. Despite the snowpack, some of those areas expected to flood this spring are, technically, still drought struck.
One good snowpack year doesn’t end a drought, in the west.
That is awful. In 1934, 80% of the US was in a severe drought.
Altithermal. Now that was a drought in most of the West. And warmer. CO2 levels must have been extraordinary back then.
When are the ‘plagues of locusts’ expected? Too bad the Rocky Mountain locust is extinct. If only the EPA could have saved it.
Tell me that picture is not heading up Hwy 40, through Rabbit Ears………..
??? There’s no direct link between CO2 and drought.
What “Rocky Mountain Locust?” Who said it’s extinct? “Locust” is just a potential stage for grasshoppers, you know.
Are you really that clueless?
WIKI! But as with a lot of other subjects they tend to give false information.
Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) in North America had some of the largest recorded swarms, but died out in the late 19th century.
Though the female and the male look alike, they can be distinguished by looking at the end of their abdomens. The male has a boat-shaped tip, while the female has two serrated valves that can be either apart or kept together. These valves aid in the digging of the hole in which an egg pod is deposited. Desert locusts can measure roughly 75 millimetres (3.0 in) in length.
It is the American Desert Locust that is swarming and that I have become familiar with over the years that I have watched them Swarm.
Ed:
Locust is the result of environmental conditions that result in crowding of the Grasshopper’s birth region such as favorable weather conditions and food to allow more breeding.
Mike: It’s Al Gored you’re aiming at. Get the facts to someone who doesn’t know them.
You were warning us a few weeks ago about Lake Powell going dry. You have no idea what you are talking about.
Steve, you can’t even restate my claims within a million acre feet of what I said.
I said one good snowpack year does not end the drought — especially in the drainage right around Powell, where the snowpack this year is less than 50% of average.
You implied, then, that a great snowpack year meant worries about drought effects on Lake Powell were hooey. I pointed out that is not so, that even with a record snowpack, Lake Powell will be in severe drought conditions.
Since then, there has been more water in the drainage area, boosting estimates of how much water will hit Powell by a few million acre feet.
Even with that extra water, Powell will be at least 20 feet below it’s preferred level. Marinas still can’t operate. It’s unclear whether familiar bays and paths in the Lake will be navigable by small boats this year — they were cut off by the drought.
You claimed to have lived in the area of Lake Powell. I suspect you were really near Lake Michigan. You have no idea what goes on in the Colorado drainage, or if you do, you’re covering it up well.
Always good to have a village idiot for laughs.
ROFL
Nothing on Earth funnier than an alarmist who doesn’t get sarcasm.
Yes! It is an alarmist that admits there is no connection between CO2 and weather events / climate.
“??? There’s no direct link between CO2 and drought. “
Also
Research at Oxford University has identified that swarming behaviour is a response to overcrowding. Increased tactile stimulation of the hind legs causes an increase in levels of serotonin.[3] This causes the locust to change colour, eat much more, and breed much more easily. The transformation of the locust to the swarming variety is induced by several contacts per minute over a four-hour period.[4] It is estimated that the largest swarms have covered hundreds of square miles and consisted of many billions of locusts.
The extinction of the Rocky Mountain Locust has been a source of puzzlement. Recent research suggests that the breeding grounds of this insect in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains came under sustained agricultural development during the large influx of gold miners,[1] destroying the underground eggs of the locust.[5][6]
In a paper in the 30 January 2009 edition of the AAAS magazine Science, Anstey & Rogers et al. showed that when desert locusts meet up, their nervous systems release serotonin, which causes them to become mutually attracted, a prerequisite for swarming.[7][8]
I found out why Ed is defending the Locust:
While several cultures throughout the world are known to consume insects, Islamic and Jewish dietary laws are notable for prohibiting the consumption of other insects while allowing some locusts to be eaten.[22][23] See also: Kosher locust.
Professor Arnold van Huis at Wageningen University in Netherlands says locusts can produce 1 kg of protein from 2 kg of fodder, compared to a cow needing 10 kg of fodder to produce the same amount of protein. Also of benefit, locusts do not produce greenhouse gases and do not require antibiotics.[24]
More protein per weight of fodder and no Greenhouse Gas.
Sarcasm generally is a restatement of facts, with a change in tone of voice. Gored engages in fiction. Fictional sarcasm requires a better set-up, generally, don’t you think?
That is, I call “poe.” Can’t tell the real stuff from the parody, from anti-warmists.
I’ll accept that as an admission that you were wrong
Any thin thread, no matter how unjustified, to warrant a preconceived set of conclusions?
I see. The title, “Real Science” is a poe, too. It’s either parody or sham.
I’ll take your assumption of admission as admission of assumption on all other things. Fair? Accurate, alas.
The drought here is just awful. Awful I tell you. And getting worse.
As of mid May 27% of the USA was in significant drought. It seems very dry to people in the drought area, but overall that percentage is far less than it has been many times in the past.
The recreational capabilities for any reservoir are the last concern of the agencies than operate the dams. It is sort of a by-product of the primary purpose of the dams. One purpose for building a dam is to store water for drought conditions. The existence of periods of drought are taken into consideration and the Chicken Little group uses low levels of water to make drastic claims. The area around Lake Powell is not known for its “Lush” vegetation and what is considered a decent rain in this neck of the woods would create havoc there. With less than one inch average monthly rainfall I would consider it a desert location. Drought is a normal condition for the region around Lake Powell just as it is around Lake Mead.
Flood Control, Storage reservoir, Hydro Power. If you are concerned about recreation at the lake talk to the Environmentalists that forced the release of extra water to muddy the waters below the dam for the rare fish.
Glad you know more about how to operate Lake Powell, and more about its history, than does the Bureau of Reclamation, Mike.
One of the bigger reasons for the dams is to capture water for use. No water, no water to use. That was part of Steve’s original miscalculation on Powell — he said that increasing water needs in Las Vegas had drained Powell (that’s not the way it works, but at least Steve acknowledged that low water might be a problem).
You are off in your own fantasy world.
Yeesh already
Over these next six months, a first-time historic event is taking place between Lake Powell in Utah and Arizona and Lake Mead in Nevada. On April 12, 2011, the Department of the Interior announced that the Bureau of Reclamation plans to release a projectional addition of 3.33 million acre-feet (maf) of water from Lake Powell to Lake Mead. (An acre-foot of water is 325,821 gallons, roughly enough for two average households for one year.) This is on top of the original 8.23 maf, for a total of 11.56 maf.
This agreement was reached between the Department and the seven Colorado River Basin States, which include Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in 2007 as a way to handle potential shortages.”
“Luckily, the Rocky Mountains, the water source of the upper Colorado River, acquired some snow. Hydrologists estimated that the April-through-July runoff, the time of the highest snowmelt, will total 120 per cent of the long-term average.”
http://sarahlhamilton.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/lake-powell-will-be-donating-to-lake-mead/