I know we're in a weird spot between Christmas, a fiscal cliff, and an imaginary Mayan apocalypse right now. There's a lot going on. A lot of trumped up talk of dramatic catastrophe, a lot of hand-waving, a lot of worrying about which presents we're going to buy.
But here's a reminder of something that's actually going on right now that nobody is really talking about at all: 62% of the contiguous United States is still experiencing a drought. One of the worst droughts in memory, too. This thing has dragged on for most of the year now. I mean, the nation just got with a major snowstorm and it barely moved the needle.
Here's Reuters:
A report issued Thursday by a consortium of federal and state climatology experts said that as of December 18, large swaths of the nation's midsection remained blanketed in extreme and exceptional levels of drought, the worst levels on the measurement scale.
According to the report, 27 percent of the High Plains were victim to "exceptional drought" before the snow, while 86 percent was gripped by the "severe" variety.
But that's just where the drought is worst. Even after the storm, the reports that "Overall, roughly 61.79 percent of the contiguous United States was in at least "moderate" drought, a slight improvement from 61.87 percent a week earlier."
The inch or so of snowfall won't likely penetrate frozen soil, so it isn't expected to help all that much.
So, while we are debating pretend end-times scenarios, the middle of America is getting a small taste of what a real one might look like. Climate scientists expect droughts to become worse and more frequent as global warming advances; much of the midwest is expected to turn into another Dust Bowl. And by the way, the actual demise of the Mayan civilization is thought to be linked to climate change. Just saying.
Perhaps that's something worth remembering in this wild and hectic and festive season; huge chunks of America lack water, and it's only going to get worse.