It Is The New Kind Of Drought

11 Responses to It Is The New Kind Of Drought

1. kirkmyers says:

   August 4, 2012 at 12:21 am

   Tucson doesn’t appear to be experiencing drought conditions. From Nasa’s own site:

   “The International airport, which is the official recording location for Tucson, recorded 4.13? which is 1.88? above normal and ranks as the 15th wettest July on record. The wettest July on record is 6.24? from 1921. One last interesting rainfall item for July. The airport recorded 5 days with a rainfall total of a half an inch or greater. This is one day shy of the July record of 6 days, which first occurred in 1921 and was later tied in 1981. Those years are the two wettest July’s on record (6.24? in 1921 and 6.17? in 1981).”

   Also, Nasa reported below-normal July temperatures in Tucson. Imagine how much lower they would have been if the agency had properly adjusted temperatures to reflect the UHI effect.

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2. John Silver says:

   August 4, 2012 at 10:34 am

   Isn’t solid frozen CO2 called dry ice?
   I maybe on to something here.

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3. Ed Darrell says:

   August 4, 2012 at 7:26 pm

   Since when does “dry” necessarily mean “fire?” If it’s a bad enough drought, there may be no storms to create the lightning to spark fires . . .

   Sheesh. Even good fortune leaves a jumble of tea leaves you try to read — and inevitably end up over analyzing to a tortured, often bizarre, conclusion.

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   • stevengoddard says:

     August 4, 2012 at 7:28 pm

     That is so weird. And I was thinking that we were having lightning just about every day.

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     • Ed Darrell says:

       August 4, 2012 at 9:22 pm

       Then it’s a case of luck. In any case, “dry” doesn’t have to mean “fire.” Why complain about an unexpected streak of good luck?

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   • Scott says:

     August 4, 2012 at 8:11 pm

     Ed Darrell says:
     August 4, 2012 at 7:26 pm

     Since when does “dry” necessarily mean “fire?” If it’s a bad enough drought, there may be no storms to create the lightning to spark fires . .

     That’s certainly a true statement. But as a resident of northern Colorado, I can say that we’ve had lightning in the afternoons probably at least 3-4 days/week over the last few weeks.

     Of course, maybe Steve is just right about it being not so dry. The average July rainfall in Fort Collins is 1.71 in, and this year the city had 4.19 in, 2.5x the average value, which is more than the average June+July value.

     But back to the truth of your statement…it really explains the High Park fire. The lightning that caused that fire came from a storm that dropped several inches of rain just north and east of town and dropped more like 4-6 inches of rain towards Denver. Rain pretty much fell everywhere around that area except for a circle with a radius a few miles wide.

     -Scott

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4. Scott says:

   August 5, 2012 at 4:34 am

   Ed Darrell says:
   August 4, 2012 at 9:22 pm

   Then it’s a case of luck. In any case, “dry” doesn’t have to mean “fire.” Why complain about an unexpected streak of good luck?

   No Ed, it’s not luck when lightning doesn’t cause a fire when precipitation last month is 2.5x the normal value. And when the CAGWers complain about streaks of bad luck (which they do repeatedly), shouldn’t Steve be able to complain about streaks of good luck (though this isn’t luck given the amount of July rain we had, which was more than June+July avg).

   -Scott

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   • Ed Darrell says:

     August 5, 2012 at 4:23 pm

     Right, Scott. Your streak of good luck completely refutes the hypothesis of global warming. Got it.

     Were you alive earlier this year? Colorado had a streak of bad luck . . .

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     • stevengoddard says:

       August 5, 2012 at 4:28 pm

       Ed,

       There was a huge rain in early June which missed only two spots along the Front Range – Fort Collins and Colorado Springs. Those two spots had fires. What a surprise. I reported this on the the day before the fires started.

       http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/retribution-for-climate-deniers/

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     • Ed Darrell says:

       August 5, 2012 at 4:52 pm

       There were about 30 fires all over Colorado in June — possible exception of the southeast corner. One rain storm isn’t enough to eliminate tinder dry conditions on wildlands, generally. Here’s a Denver Post map of ten wildfires burning at the end of June: http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site36/2012/0625/20120625_105853_CD0625FIREMAP_500.jpg

       The AP “Wildfire Tracker” at the bottom of this story shows about 30 fires throughout Colorado: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/30/waldo-canyon-fire-2012-st_n_1639836.html

       So your “local smug” must have extended across the state.

       At some point you may want to back up and consider what “weather isn’t climate” means, and whether you can use local weather events to rebut climate change evidence.

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       • stevengoddard says:

         August 5, 2012 at 4:54 pm

         There are always fires in Colorado in June. The two fires which made the news were the ones in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs.