Perilous
Times and Climate Change
No Relief in Sight For Triple Digit Texas Heatwave and
Drought
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nation's triple digit heat wave --
which hit its 34th day on Friday -- could last until the end of
August, while extensive drought in and around Texas may last into
October, forecasters said.
The deadly heat event that has broken numerous records has left
the southern plains and Mississippi Valley struggling to meet
demand for power and water and has cost billions in impact on
crops and livestock.
"Many more days of triple-digit heat are on deck as iron-clad high
pressure at most levels of the atmosphere continues to squat over
the south-central U.S.," Accuweather.com's senior meteorologist
Alex Sosnowski said.
The severe heat is just one part of a compounded climatic problem,
an expert from the National Weather Service said.
Last year's La Nina, the weather event that left equatorial sea
surface temperatures in the central Pacific two to four degrees
Fahrenheit cooler, triggered this year's exceptional drought.
Normally, La Nina causes a 10 percent drop in precipitation.
Since January, the state of Texas, where the drought is anchored,
has only had 40 percent of normal rain fall, NWS climate
specialist Victor Murphy said.
Heavy rains fell in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday
afternoon, with flash floods wreaking several hours of havoc and
prompting fire department rescues of people trapped in their homes
and cars.
Captain Rob Brisley said the city's fire department responded to
more than 80 weather-related calls in three hours, including
reports of lightning strikes, downed power lines and flooding
emergencies.
At least 10 people were taken out their homes by boat as rising
waters threatened a neighborhood northwest of downtown, and homes
west of downtown also were evacuated, Brisley said.
Rain also slightly cooled the Tennessee River, allowing the
Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in
Decatur, Alabama to begin ramping up production.
The heat had raised the river's temperature to higher than 90
degrees and forced a severe cutback in the energy supplied by the
plant, which uses the river water to cool the reactors.
"On Wednesday, we had three units operating at 50 percent power.
Today we have one unit at 75 percent, two at 70 percent," TVA
spokesman Ray Golden said.
WIDESPREAD DROUGHT
Drought now affects over a million square miles of the lower 48
states, or 32 percent, according to the Weather Channel. The most
extreme cases of "exceptional" drought stretch from Arizona to
Louisiana and parts of Georgia, covering almost 11 percent of the
lower 48 states.
The resulting lack of ground moisture prevents clouds from
developing in the low level atmosphere, making daytime showers
near impossible.
That problem combined with a persistent dome of high pressure, the
climatic conditions are not likely to change.
"It's a feedback process which just keeps on going, feeding on
itself," Murphy told Reuters by phone.
"Drought begets heat, heat begets drought. That's how we've been
since May," he said.
The NWS drought outlook released on Thursday reported that in
Texas, Oklahoma and parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas,
Kansas, and New Mexico, the drought will persist or intensify
until the end of October.
The region has felt the impact of the several months of severe
weather acutely. Wildfires in April and May burned over 3 million
acres and the agriculture and livestock industries have seen a
preliminary impact of $6 to $8 billion, Murphy said.
Water scarcity will likely be this next pressing issue. Images of
cracking lakebeds and water turn blood-red from bacterial growth
have filled weather reports in recent days.
"Barring a tropical cyclone, we are forecasted to stay the same as
we are," Murphy said.
The hurricane season is likely to bring relief to Southeastern
states such as Georgia, Alabama, Florida and the Carolinas.
The Climate Predication Center, a division of NWS, said on
Thursday that the hurricane season would be more likely to be an
above average one, notching up their outlook for tropical storms
to 14-19 from 12-18 and the number of hurricanes to 7-10 from
6-10.
Despite the heat, high school football practices continue as
coaches keep a weary eye on players.
Pre-season practices, which are often seen as a rite of passage in
the South, may have already claimed the lives of two Georgia
players as well as a coach in Texas who had a heart condition.
A 14-year-old football player who collapsed after practice in
South Carolina last week died of complications stemming from
sickle cell anemia, a coroner ruled on Friday.
Heat is suspected of playing a major role in the deaths of a
79-year-old mother and her 60-year-old son, whose bodies were
found Thursday in their home that lacked air-conditioning,
Nashville police said on Friday.
The mother and son had heart issues and had been dead two weeks,
police said.
(Additional reporting by Tim Ghianni, Harriet McLeod and Colleen
Jenkins; Editing by Jerry Norton)