Sunday, April 17, 2011

Wondering about the strange weather

I just heard on the early morning news that there were around one hundred tornadoes in North Carolina yesterday. The neighboring states were not spared either, but N.C. got the worst of it. This has been a strange year, with floods in normally dry areas and severe drought in normally wet areas. Through archeology we know that there have been shifts in the earth’s climates in the past. Everything changes; for example, way back there was only one continent and then the earth’s tectonic plates moved and created multiple continents out of that first big one. Finding fossils of tropical ferns and plants in extreme northern regions shows just how different things have been in the past and will be in the future. Maybe some of those Sci-Fi movies about the future mega-storms and climate change are coming true.


My little area of the world has not been unaffected. We are in the most extreme drought conditions. For example, the normal humidity around here is from 85 to 99 percent but yesterday it was 16 percent. We normally get about five feet or so of rain a year and this year so far we have had less than a quarter inch of rain and there is none in sight. I have to admit that it has been more comfortable to be outside and we have had some really gorgeous days, but having another nice day is the trouble. We need a few grey days with long steady rains.

The farmers and ranchers around here are mowing and bailing their pastures, to try and save what grass there is now for future feed in case the drought goes on for a longer period of time. I would think that mowing and bailing would be a gamble. Wouldn’t the short stubble burn out quicker than the longer grass? Since I am neither a farmer nor a rancher, I do not know about such things.

A little rain would help us out and a little sunshine would help out the areas afflicted with storms. Maybe I shouldn’t complain, so far it has been a beautiful late winter and spring around here and I have been enjoying it.

Have a nice day, unless you are in an area that needs rain.

6 comments:

  1. We don't need any rain! Wish ya'll had some of ours. I think there was 14 people killed in one county in NC,anyway that's what was reported. Makes you wonder who's next! The weather is crazy,I worry about it. Blessings jane

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  2. With the lack of rain combined with the constant winds...I'm having a hard time keeping all my plants from drying up!

    I've been thinking I'd call up some rain for tomorrow! Maybe I can send some over in your direction!

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  3. Here in central TX, we got around 1/2" rain last week, did no good at all. There wont be anything to cut for hay around here, nothing is growing. Dont know how the ranchers will survive.

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  4. Jane, yes, send some rain down this way. What do you think, did this country do something to make the Man upstairs mad as us???

    HJ, would you please give me that telephone number to call up the rain. I would even pay for a toll call. Has the city put any water restrictions on you folks yet?

    Trouble, I remember another bad year (not as bad as this), but the ranchers had to buy hay from up north and get it shipped in.

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  5. But the extreme right says that climate change isn't happening...

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  6. Greenhouse gases at a 15 year low.

    http://tinyurl.com/4xnl8ec

    I guess this story makes the Financial Times extreme right wingers!

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