Hard times and dry land

[Cam85]

Hey marsh that's all well n good but we still gotta eat I for one like beef but with no stock it's gotta run out no matter wat u grow it all needs water.

The road kill is not bad at all just bones left barky and blackall look good but from there north just dirt there is no animals left to hit just a few sheep n goats that obvisually being fed.

Even the mills I drove past most had the tails pulled in.

For those of u that don't know if the tail of the windmill is wound in it is to stop it pumping water well it slowes it down a lot anyway

 

[kshansen]

Last thing I will say on this "environment" thing is what a neighbor of mine who passed away several years ago said. "The environment is like a swimming pool. If one little boy pisses in your pool you will never know it. But there comes a point that if enough little boys are pissing in the pool you are going to be swimming in pi$$!"

 

[lantraxco]

It's hard to know what is global climate change and what is a local issue. The US had it's dust bowl due to poor farming practices over a wide area followed by low rainfall years. Sometimes if you strip too much vegetation and lose the ability to retain the water and release some back into the air to help keep humidity up and somewhat cool the land, a drought can become self sustaining. Of course several years of natural drought can cause the same effect I think.

 

[old-iron-habit]

Bottom line is there is so much water on this earth. It evaporates and falls somewhere. If an area is dry some where else it is wet. Except for a couple weeks we have been almost to wet all year and it is still raining, another inch yesterday in December. Ocean currents (El Nino, La Nina)have a big effect on our central US weather patterns. I believe as Lan said, a prolonged drought can be self sustaining to an effect because of exceedingly dry land not evaporing moisture into the air. It will take a big globel push moves to move more water laden air in to the area.

 

[wilko]

Global warming is making a more pronounced appearance each year, it seems. With California suffering droughts of increasing severity each passing year, one cannot but wonder how many more years existing water supplies can sustain the USA West Coast, UNLESS some major investments are made in sea water desalination. The brown landscape down under in Australia looks so similar to the parched hills of Southern California, so the drought this year really is hitting most continents hard.

Hope y'all get some rain soon. Can't imagine what it would be like to watch crops and livestock withering away due to water getting so scarce.

The warming theory called for California to get more rain, but when it started getting dry it all gets blamed on warming. Nothing but politics.

 

[Queenslander]

Bottom line is there is so much water on this earth. It evaporates and falls somewhere. If an area is dry some where else it is wet.

In the last five years most of Qld. has seen record breaking floods as well as the current drought.
Wether influenced by man or not, the climate does seem to be producing more extreme weather events.
Here, we are in the grip of an el-niño at the moment and Iam hoping it will break in the Autumn, as they often do.

 

[Old Magnet]

So far in Central and Southern California we're calling it " el nada" as nothing has happened yet. Hope I don't have to eat those words later.

 

[d9e]

missus an I took a drive nth to do a bit of fossicking late june (we're in s/e qld), yeah worst we've ever seen not even dead grass for 100 kl in some areas around hughy. fresh water crocs were even dying in scarce waterholes up further, 3rd failed wet season going into 4th. saw 1 jaberoo, no other water birds. called in at family who bought 85000 acre block from great granpa 100 yrs ago, down to their last 7000 ewes an waterhole below homestead was gonna dry up by august (never been dry in 2 families history) tey were gona shear an sell them an move to town(longreach) as it supplied house too. could drive 200ks an count cattle sawn on 2 hands in paddocks. don't believe in global warming, the sun an it's different cycals drives ALL our weather, tides/gravity effects an it ALL interacts more than a super computer can predict. dad reckons that the more mankind rebels against his Creator ,the madder the weather will get.(shore borne out in the old testament history of the isralites). I keep praying for them up nth to get rain but maybe repentence comes first.

 

[brianbulldozer]

I have been wondering lately if the powers that be have a strategy to counter global warming with a nuclear winter, courtesy of our new Iranian Mullah friends.

 

[Oxbow]

I believe that the idea that man has no effect on global conditions is narrow minded, and the idea that man can affect a desired change is just plain preposterous. I remember growing up hearing that by now we would be in an ice age.

Studying every aspect of climate is great in my mind, but predicting what is to come is foolish. One large volcanic eruption in a magnitude much greater than Mt. St. Helens, that spews ash across an entire continent, will change conditions for decades to come instantly.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, variables in the output received from the sun are beyond our control. I read one opinion that the sun has had two warmer areas that have been situated recently so that we have received greater impact, and that those two areas are beginning to migrate to portions of the sun that will provide less heat in our direction, and that we may be in the beginning stages of a mini ice age over the next 30 years or so.

I should stop now before I stray into the political arena.

 

[lantraxco]

Oxbow,

I read something similar about the sun, as I recall this scientist pointed out that there were two overlapping hot/cold cycles, one of fairly short duration and another cycle of much longer duration. Apparently we have had a rare synchronization of the two as of late, where the short cycle peaked just about the same time the longer cycle went over it's peak high, thus a double whammy of sun output.

As an aside, I still think the hole in the ozone over the Southern Sea was caused by billions of barrels of oil spilled or lost when the tankers went down off the horn of Africa. The lighter elements come to the surface and are carried forever in a circle around Antarctica where the sunlight oxidizes them and the resulting chemicals rise and deplete the ozone. The companies that stood to make a profit claimed it was the propellant in aerosol cans and the refrigerant in your car, but why would that not affect the Northern hemisphere, since that's where literally all of those gasses were being released? As always, follow the money!

 

[Queenslander]

So far in Central and Southern California we're calling it " el nada" as nothing has happened yet. Hope I don't have to eat those words later.

So, nearly one month later, how are you faring OM?
We read about record flooding in large areas of the U.S. and U.K.
The El Niño here is showing signs of cracking, with some of the most desperate areas of Qld. receiving their first useful rain in three years.
I'am still hopefull we will see a good general break in the season in the next month or so.

 

[Old Magnet]

So far we have received a dribble of rain on the Central Coast. In spit of all the "weather liars" it's just not happening. At this point I don't know what to expect but we are a long ways from recovery and any significant filling of reservoirs. Meanwhile well pumping keeps going deeper and land subsidence is a concern. On the brighter side the Sierras are getting a decent snow pack.

 

[movindirt]

So, nearly one month later, how are you faring OM?
We read about record flooding in large areas of the U.S. and U.K.
The El Niño here is showing signs of cracking, with some of the most desperate areas of Qld. receiving their first useful rain in three years.
I'am still hopefull we will see a good general break in the season in the next month or so.

St. Louis, Missouri here in the U.S. got 12 inches of rain for the month of december, previous record was 7.5 inches in 1982, there was quite a bit of flooding, stretches of interstate under water for a while from what I heard. I'm upstream on the Mississippi river quite a ways in Illinois, we also had a record rainfall month of december. I hope you guys get some good rainfall! I can't imagine going that long without much rain.

 

[mitch504]

Boy, I wish we could share with you guys, we got 26" in 40 hrs the first week of Oct. and it was wet when that happened. We've had rain one or two days out of every week since.

 

[Queenslander]

The reason I asked OM how he was getting on, is that that our statewide newspaper said, amongst other things when discussing El Niño, "a steady convoy of storms slammed most of California"
Gotta love journalists, eh?

 

[Old Magnet]

You got that right. As I am typing we are actually getting a nice gentle rain. What you'd expect for a normal winter here. Coarse the news heads directly for the biggest puddle, fallen tree or flowing stream of water to declare a national emergency. It's called winter and every rain cloud is not a "storm". Does come with the usual assortment of man made disasters like mud flows and landslides etc, mostly due to poor development planning.
I really do sympathize with our South East and Midwest folks and others that are getting hammered with all that water.

 

[Queenslander]

In what may be a world record, a group from southern NSW has put together a convoy of 130 trucks carrying 5000 bales of hay some 1800 km into drought stricken central western Qld.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-09/burrumbuttock-hay-runners-deliver-to-western-queensland-graziers/7078526
With everything donated, I think the following quote some sums up their attitude nicely.

''We are not a registered charity, I am just a bloke with a truck and can get a sh1t load of hay."
Brendan Farrell, Burrumbuttock Hay Runners founder

 

[Old Magnet]

Very impressive. Can't see that happening here in money grubbing California. They would rather war over water rights.

 

[Queenslander]

If that wasn't enough, they're doing it again as I type.
This time with some 390 trailers of hay and donated goods.
Someone should give these people a medal.