At last it rained

[marisol]

Finally I hope the drought has broken. We had 3 days of gentle
rain. Today there are mushrooms everywhere. The grass is green
and growing. The Yew tree almost didn't make it. We need more
rain, hope its coming. With temps in the 90's we need lots of rain.

[Deleted]

It's gonna take weeks of steady rain and lots of snow pack to break this drought out here.
I'm not holding my breath, we haven't gotten enough snow to replenish what we've lost and used up in about 3 years.
If we do get a lot of moisture the burned areas are going to cause massive mudslides and epic erosion.
The whole world is wonky.

[The Mad Hatter]

One more year of drought and a loaf of bread will cost $20.00

[StormInateacup]

Last drought we had lasted 10 years.

Mind you, it broke in 2010 and it hasn't stopped raining since. Biblical bloody joint this is - meteorologically speaking.

But as it happens just yesterday I found a really interesting article in Scientific American about a return to a practice called "Dry Farming" which used to be common place in middle America apparently before they started building dams and could rely on irrigation.

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=growing-crops-with-no-water-the-old-2012-08

[marisol]

Interesting never imagined farming that way.

[Deleted]

I know small farmers right around here that have been dry farming for quite some time. It's complicated, what goes on with crops because of water rights and the way it's distributed. We are right on top of the Ogallala Aquifer, the larger corp farms buy up most of the excess water units and go right on just like they have, using those huge sprinkler arrays on wheels. They draw most of it from OA and pump out thousands of gallons per hour on each water sucking parcel the sprinklers cover. {Corn takes LOTS of water and it's the largest crop out here}. The aquifer is normally replenished by snowmelt, when we have low snow pack the aquifer shrinks alarmingly. It hasn't recovered from the last drought, which lasted 10 years and only abated for 3 years before this drought hit.
The Western Slope gets more surface moisture than this side of the Divide. Most of the rights to that water is owned by California, a good bit by Nevada and some by Arizona and it's impossible to get it to this side, the Eastern Slope, where most of the staple crops are grown.
Eastern Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas are all watered by the Platte River and the Aquifer. If the larger operations don't change the way they farm Hatter's prediction WILL come to be, and not only bread, but, our meat sources are fed grains, corn especially, eggs, meats, everything is going to sky rocket. Then add the demand for "fuel crops", which also drives up the prices.
This is scary shit people.
We won't be able to afford food produced here, we'll have to import, do you see where this is going?
I do.

[Jenne]

Yeah, we've become so dependent on corn, that it's a bit alarming what it's going to be like if we can't sustain that dependency anymore. I know CA is always in a drought, which is why we are always buying other states' water from them. Or stealing...either way. It might be smarter for folks to realize we don't need all those chi-chi golf courses out here...or find an alternate way to "grass" them. There's no reason why Arizona should have as much grass as they have to maintain for their tourist industry. How much water it takes for Nevada and Arizona to keep green grass, I don't want to even contemplate.

[og]

We have a drought her for the last few months and with all the fires it screwing up the late season apple crops.

[Shanti]

Its bad here too. Our river that is normal over 6 feet at its center is about 3 or less. We have gotten rain but not enough to bring our water tables back up. I live in the river bottoms where its a flood plain. Our ecosystem here is dependent on that regular flooding, which occurs at least 2 times per year. Our wet marsh is now a field of marsh grasses. Our dry marsh is now regular grass. Invasive weeds like thistle that normally didnt grow in this wet land have taken over. Its bad. Amphibians use to rule here, now field rats have become a problem since the corn fields all died on them so they moved for food foraging.

My gardens did real good though while everything else was dead and brown. I prepared for this in spring and planted everything in holes, below the surrounding soil levels so I could pool water directly to each plant. Plus when it did rain, the little we go, the rain ran across the hard dry ground and it pooled around each plant. (Our land is sloped downhill toward the river) My mulch was over a foot deep. My efforts paid off with more produce from that garden than I ever imagined.
I hope we dont see this drought continue but the national weather service says it will for us. We worry about the ground water, our well. If the river goes to low our ground water will too. So far we have been real lucky. We just hope our river doesnt dry up next summer. We lost more than half her normal flow in one summer. If that happens again, there wont be any water here to use.

[The Mad Hatter]

Lots of wells in Nebraska went dry this year.

[Shanti]

I know a lot of wells went dry everywhere. That's why we fear it. In our area you cant just go and dig your own well. You are forced to follow codes that include licensed contractors for digging your well for residential use. So, it cost a dam fortune!!! I would hate if we had to go into debt to dig a new well. We would hurt for a long time if that happened.
My neighbor tossed 5k to have his dug even though he did the rest, pump and lines, for free via a relative. 5k is a lot of money for a dam 35 foot hole in sand. (sand country here, bedrock is over 100 ft down)
I love mandatory bs where they can jack the cost because you have no choice.
I feel for those who found themselves dry.

[og]

Well we had rain today all around the state except in the areas where the forest fires are burning.