Thursday, May 23, 2013

Flooding...Drought....Flooding, again?

If you're from the Midwest, you're all too familiar with how extreme the weather can be. Here in Nebraska we have a saying for our crazy weather,
"If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes."
While the weather might not change in 5 minutes, the point is the same-- the weather is often unpredictable and can change in the blink of an eye. Two years ago, Nebraska had extreme flooding while last year Nebraska had extreme drought. This last month, even this last week, we've seen large amounts of precipitation via strong thunderstorms bringing flash flooding. But lasting concerns of the drought still linger on the High Plains, why is this? The answer has to due with the difference between surface water and ground water, where our drinking water comes from and the true definition of 'drought'.

Drought is a climatological event which most people don't notice on a day to day basis. It's not in your face like the daily weather. Most of the time we don't even know that drought exists unless our yards turn brown and the city enforces water restrictions (which I remember as a kid in Nebraska). So if we get rain and the ground is wet and the plants are green, then the drought must be seeing relief, right? Wrong. 

Weather Dictionary defines 'drought' as the following,
Abnormal dry weather for a specific area that is sufficiently prolonged for the lack of water to cause serious hydrological imbalance.
Not only is does drought affect an area and last for a long period of time, but also has a serious effect on water balance, which most importantly to us is our availability of drinking water. For most of us, water comes from the faucet but in reality the water we drink goes on a long journey before it makes it even close to our faucets. In the High Plains, 82% of the population relies on drinking water from the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the world's largest aquifers.

The aquifer receives recharge from various sources including mountain snow melt, prairie snow melt and spring rains. When this recharge doesn't occur, the more water we take, the less the aquifer has to maintain its saturation level. This means our availability of drinking water decreases as well!

"But Rain Girl, this month we've received over 8in of rain! Why isn't the drought seeing any relief?"


 This is a good question. Lets see what the climate data for Lincoln, Nebraska shows us.
Precipitation 2013 (inches)
Precipitation Month-To-Date: 8.37
Precipitation Total since March 1st: 14.51
Precipitation Total since January 1st: 15.78
Precipitation 2012 (inches)
Precipitation Month-To-Date: 2.5
Precipitation Total since March 1st: 6
Precipitation Total since January 1st: 10
Precipitation Total for 2012: 19.14
-6th warmest year on record
-309 consecutive snow-free days
-Maximum temperature records set in January, March, April, May, June, July, September, November, and December
30 year climate normal for High Plains
 The map to the left shows what normal annual precipitation should be. Where the Ogallala Aquifer is located in Nebraska, this area should receive 15 to 30 inches of rain annually. Remember from earlier that total precipitation in Lincoln, NE in 2012 was 19.14in. However, areas in western Nebraska saw total precipitation totals lower than 19.14in. So while we may be already seeing a total of over 15in this year already, in an area that should see about 35in annually, that much moisture in such a short period of time in such a drought stricken area can really only bring problems for long term issues even if it solves short term issues like renewal of surface water. As you can see in the drought monitor below to the right, as of a week ago, Nebraska is still largely in severe to exceptional drought (orange to dark red). This drought is lingering due to the extremes experienced in 2012 and the lack of recharge over this past winter.


Receiving rain may seem like a miracle at times, or even relief to drought, but the way the rain falls may mean the opposite. When large amounts of rain fall onto dry ground (or overly saturated ground), flash flooding can occur. If the ground is too dry (like it is now when we're in drought) the water is not absorbed into the ground and instead results in flash flooding. Flash flooding is very dangerous making roads impassible, floods crops and creates run-off taking crops, chemicals and more with it which goes to water features like streams, lakes and rivers. Therefore, the 8in of rain we've seen this past month may saturate the surface, but doesn't recharge ground water because it's staying at the surface wreaking havoc for us who live on the surface.

So while we may be seeing flooding (whether flash or long term) this does not necessarily mean drought relief is in sight. Drought and flooding both affect our drinking water as well as the crops which we feed on (directly and indirectly). Because drought is such a deep issue in the land and hydrological systems, it won't be relieved by rain brought by strong storms. What this land needs is a good 'soaker' rain which is a nice, slow, but consistent rain that allows the ground to absorb the water it is receiving.

My personal opinion is that this year will bring more drought and little relief will be seen but strong thunderstorms will persist through the summer season, most likely creating more issues for an already drought stricken land.


Data & Map Sources


Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Rain Girl's First Drop

So even though this isn't my first blog post ever, this is my first post on this blog and I thought I'd go with a rough overview about me the type of content this blog will have, a little bit about myself and an explanation of my blog name.

There are several things I would like to explore on this blog such as:
  • Gardening
  • Crocheting
  • DIY projects
  • Weather news & information
  • Nature Education
  • Cooking (recipes - new & old)
  • General outdoors education & information
  • Boosting positive energy
  • And any other topic I find or is brought to my attention!
Enough about my starting ideas of what I want to post, here is a little information about me ;)

I'm a full time college student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and pursuing my bachelors degree in Fisheries & Wildlife. My ultimate goal is to have a job in ecology & environmental education with kids. They are truly the voice of the future and with the current state of affairs, we need them to be as equipped and educated as possible!

My favorite activities include fishing, camping, hiking and well-- basically anything outdoors. My boyfriend and I have an extensive garden which I love tending to from beginning to end of every season. Having such a large garden taught me that I need to seek alternative methods to preserving the food from our harvest-- this is when I learned canning, which is also one of my favorite activities (along with cooking of course!).

I'm an avid reader. I love fiction like that of Michael Crichton but I also enjoy lots of non-fiction. Anything where my mind has the opportunity to think and explore is an opportunity I desire to take-- reading is a fantastic way to do this!

Music is another one of my passions. I do not play any instruments but I can guarantee that the music assortment you would find on my iPod is one of the most unique and diverse you've ever seen. I'm sure that occasionally I will post about a new music artist or a song I'm currently really diggin'.

I'm a strong believer in positivity! I will most likely make several posts with inspirational pictures and quotes. I've found that in my own life, the small dabs of positivity can make all the difference in my day. I hope to do the same for others.

My nickname "Rain Girl" originated while on a trip with my (loving) parents to North Dakota to visit my dad's family. I won't go into the nitty gritty details because it's one of those things only my parents and I find funny, but I will share briefly. I'm a little strange with random things, for instance, the arrangement of my food. Now, I'm not OCD or anything, but I do like to prep some food items in certain ways. I've also been known to freak out on clothing tags or need to use a certain cup because condensation doesn't form in a certain area or something equally as ridiculous. My (loving) mother likes to tease me about my random oddities and one night, in a motel in Minnesota while fussing with my Wendy's sour cream and chive baked potato, my parents nicknamed me "Rain Girl" in half joke reference to the popular film "Rain Main". Now at first, this seems like a slam on me. It isn't. Initially it was just a joke between my parents and I, and it always seemed appropriate since I've always been a fan of the weather, a little odd and goofy. As time has gone on, my love and knowledge for the weather has deepened and I've also been opened up to the entire world of ecology, but I will always be rain girl and the nickname will always stay.

As far as the whole blog title, I decided to use my rain girl nickname with the singular word 'reason'. I chose reason because of this definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary :
a (1) : the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking especially in orderly rational ways : intelligence (2) : proper exercise of the mind (3) : sanity
For this blog, I would like to lay out reason for different activities and ideas  which I have found to be useful, fun and life enhancing. And there you have it, Rain Girl Reason.

All in all, I'm really excited about this blog and the endless possibilities for not only me getting to share ideas and news with you, but you sharing with me in return!