Drought worsens after weeks of improvement
ST. LOUIS—A new report shows that the nation’s worst drought in decades has worsened for a second straight week, after conditions had improved for more than a month.
The weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday shows that 62.7 percent of the continental U.S. was in some form of drought as of Tuesday. That’s up from 60.1 percent the previous week.
The portion of the lower 48 states in extreme or exceptional drought — the two worst classifications — also rose, to 20.12 percent from last week’s 19.04 percent.
The dry conditions intensified sharply in Oklahoma, where 90.5 percent of the state is in extreme or exceptional drought. That’s up 19 percentage points.
The portion of South Dakota in those two classifications rose more than 8 percentage points, to 63.32 percent.
Nov 29, 2012 at 11:01 p.m.
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janesvillean...how can you say the aquifer isn't affected by drought? not all Janesvilles wells are deep, and they have to be refilled...so we may have water now, but in the future what will we have? major draw downs like Waukesha...and not everyone gets their water from the city...I have a private well and it has been impacted by this drought...
Nov 29, 2012 at 5:01 p.m.
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partarican1, in theory the new water rate structure is supposed to be an incentive, and the city does offer rebates for low-flow fixtures. But ultimately our water comes from the aquifer and is not directly affected by a drought.
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South Dakota is also highly dependent on groundwater. Multi-year drought can affect groundwater supplies, but it's not as direct as the effect on crops.
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But yes, it seems counter-intuitive to "make the desert bloom" and push water-intensive uses to one of the driest parts of the nation.
Nov 29, 2012 at 2:21 p.m.
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South Dakota is at 63.32 percent? According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
http://www.jsonline.com/business/south-d...
South Dakota is trying to entice Wisconsin's dairy farmers. Don't cows have to drink a lot of water, or can they give condensed milk?
Nov 29, 2012 at 1:41 p.m.
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Here I thought my roses were wilting because of the cold. hmmm.
Nov 29, 2012 at 11:57 a.m.
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still wondering why there are no water conservation efforts going on here...
Nov 29, 2012 at 11:43 a.m.
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Rock County moved out of "extreme" as of roughly a month ago, but remains -- all but the northernmost bit -- in "severe". The county has been in "severe" since July.
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