Drought in West and Southeast spreads to Mid-Atlantic
Pastor Dale Morgan
Drought in West and Southeast spreads to Mid-Atlantic*
* Story Highlights
* About 43 percent of contiguous U.S. facing moderate to extreme drought
* Worldwide, year to date has been the warmest on record for land
* September dryness extended across the Ohio Valley into southern Great
Lakes
* Half the counties in Maryland and Pennsylvania were under a drought watch
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Confirming what many farmers, boaters and others
already knew, the government reported Tuesday that the drought parching
much of the West and Southeast spread into the Mid-Atlantic area in
September.
Water levels at Lake Carter, about 90 miles north of Atlanta, Georgia,
are at record lows.
At the end of September about 43 percent of the contiguous United States
was in moderate to extreme drought, the National Climate Data Center
said Tuesday.
Worldwide, meanwhile, the agency said the year to date has been the
warmest on record for land. It has been the seventh warmest year so far
over the oceans, working out to the fourth warmest overall worldwide.
But drought is probably the greatest concern in many parts of the
country and the year to date has been the driest on record for Tennessee
and North Carolina.
The eastern seaboard from Maine to the Carolinas and across parts of
Florida was unusually dry in September, NCDC said.
And the September dryness extended across the Ohio Valley and into the
southern Great Lakes.
The agency, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, said drier-than-normal weather was also experienced in
September across parts of the Pacific Northwest and northern Plains.
Drought-related conditions included:
• As of September 25, Pasadena, California, experienced its driest year
since records began in 1878. Many California communities imposed water
use restrictions.
• The Great Lakes, which together make up about 20 percent of the
world's fresh surface water, have been in decline since the late 1990s.
Lakes Huron and Michigan were about two feet below their long-term
average levels, while Lake Superior was about 20 inches off, Lake
Ontario 7 inches below and Lake Erie a few inches down.
• Maryland and Pennsylvania had about half of their counties under a
drought watch. Many areas in upstate New York reported record low
reservoir levels and dried-up wells and farm ponds.
• Alabama Power, the state's largest utility, has been operating some of
its coal plants at significantly reduced levels to avoid raising water
temperatures in the Coosa, Black Warrior and Mobile rivers.
• The Tennessee Valley Authority shut down Browns Ferry Unit II nuclear
power plant due to inadequate stream flow.
• At the end of September, the Georgia Environmental Protection Division
declared a level four drought response across the northern third of the
state, which prohibits most types of outdoor residential water use.
Video Watch drought conditions in Georgia »
The report said that while September was only the eighth warmest month
on record for the United States, it was still hot enough to break 1,000
daily high records across the country.
With the worldwide warming, the extent of Arctic Sea ice reached its
lowest amount in September since satellite measurements began in 1979,
shattering the previous record low set in 2005.