2021 could be one of the driest years in a millennium, and there's no relief in sight - PBS NewsHour

[Rhiannon12866]

Nearly half of the country — from the Pacific coast to the Great Plains and upper Midwest — is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions. That's expected to get worse throughout the summer. As William Brangham reports, it's the western states in particular that are taking the hardest hit, and the possibilities for devastating wildfires are at an all-time high.

[littlemissmartypants]

1. I wonder if the freedom touting antimaskers will refuse to conserve

And waste precious resources regardless. You know, the ones that say "you're (the government) not going to tell me what to do."

It wouldn't surprise me.

A few years ago I went to a workshop/seminar on global warming and a single comment by one of the presenting scientists, stuck with me, above all the rest. He said wet places will get wetter and dry places, drier. It's a simple concept and says it all. And seems to be holding true.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. That's certainly true from my perspective

I'm in Northeastern New York and we often have a flooding problem in these parts - not to mention a whole lot of snow. The first winter storm of last season left 34 inches, shut everything down for a day, and that was only the beginning. We even had more snow one very strange day about a month ago. And then there was last Wednesday, we had a severe storm. I happened to have a appointment and in less than an hour I drove home to see branches on the roads and even one very large tree uprooted. When I hear about Western states experiencing drought, I wish that we could send them some of our excessive rain and moisture.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. In other words, using the popular meteorologist euphemism

"Wet begets wet and dry begets dry" (although I hear the latter referenced more ).

When you go into summer with that dry ground, you have a higher chance of hotter temps (and heat waves with those higher temps) because the energy that is needed to evaporate any moisture, which would delay further temp increases, would not have to happen, and up up up go the temps starting earlier in the day.

I know last year here in the Philly area, we had a relatively rainy spring, coming off a high-moisture year, so although we had our heatwaves, we didn't get any persistent upper 90s or triple digit temps last year (and haven't had triple digits in awhile now). This year is a bit different, with less spring precip and even a couple weeks without any precip at all this month until a couple days ago, so will have to see how that translates as we get into summer.



One of things that does mitigate some of this here on the east coast, is the hurricane season and potential rain from tropical systems (and/or their remnants).

[SheltieLover]

11. Of course they will

[multigraincracker]

3. The Great Lakes are just a few inches

below last years historic highs.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. Here in the Northeastern area, we had yet another snowstorm on April 16th(!)

And last Wednesday we had such a severe rainstorm that trees and branches came down. The rain finally let up here today.

[mopinko]

10. but it's been rly dry here.

last year we got about 6" of rain here. so far this spring we've only had a few good rains.
not surprised to see myself on the map. been using the word drought myself.

[Duppers]

5. I worry about fires in forested areas

Especially for folks living among trees as my hubby & I plan to do (almost immediately outside the GSM Nat'l Park where we own wooded property).

And heaven help California & all western states.

Good night. 🌙

[SergeStorms]

7. Better get out there.....

and rake your forests, then perhaps a good vacuuming, per Donald Trump.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Here in NC we had 13th wettest winter on record

going back to 1895. It was 4 inches above normal.

And yet now-- since March-- we're in drought conditions.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/weather/2021/05/27/drought-conditions-expand-across-central-and-eastern-north-carolina

But yesterday we were supposed to have rain or thunderstorms most of the day, which didn't materialize. It did finally rain some late afternoon, but not nearly what I was hoping for with my new garden after it hadn't rained for over a week. Going forward I'm happy to see more days of at least 40-50% chance of rain so I won't have to water all these new plants so frequently.

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/weather/2021/03/16/just-how-wet-was-this-winter-

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

9. Meanwhile, in FL, we've had 2 glorious weeks without almost any rain. More dry, please! lol

My yard finally dried out after the wet spring weather, yay

[Chainfire]

13. At my end of the state it has been quite dry for the season.

Dry and unusually cool and breezy. We could use a few "frog stranglers" to catch back up.

[samnsara]

12. i live on 5 acres of forest surrounded by acres of more forest.. Im already making a grab n go..

..box with all my cash, meds, extra undies and electronics to keep inside my down stairs closet. I have family photos in another box and 4 dogs to save. Last year we were put on alert but so far we have never had to evacuate because of fires. Knock on wood...

Fire season is why we had some N95 masks handy when the virus hit.

I live in Wash state in a yellow area so hopefully this summer will be quiet here..

[PortTack]

14. NW, western and central IL are wet wet! For the past 2-3 seasons

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Same here in NE NY! We even got more snow in April and it's been raining more often than not

We had a severe storm last Wednesday - lots of wind and rain - branches all over the roads and I saw a large tree uprooted on my way home. Saturday was sunny for a change - but then it started pouring again last night and is expected to continue at least through tomorrow. I wish we could send it to the areas who need it...