Latest Drought Stories

'A recipe for a perfect drought'The convergence in the coming year of three cyclical conditions affecting ocean temperatures and weather is likely to create unprecedented challenges for states that depend on water from the Colorado River, a new UCLA study suggests. "If I were concocting a recipe for a perfect drought, this would be it," said Glen MacDonald, co-author of the study and director of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Along with a former...

Study could help produce alternative to genetically-engineered crops to combat global food shortagesNew findings from Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists could lead to environmentally-friendly sprays that help plants survive drought and other stresses in harsh environments to combat global food shortages.  The study is a follow-up to findings published in Nature last year that were named among the top breakthroughs of 2009 by Science magazine."I think that the work established...

Researchers discover technique to improve, extend late-season harvestSuccessful mechanical harvesting of perennial fruit crops requires efficient, economical harvesting systems that do not reduce trees' production life or diminish fruit quality. Most of the world's citrus is now harvested manually, but the use of efficient and lower-cost mechanical harvesting techniques is expected to increase in the next few years, especially in the large citrus plantations in Florida and Brazil. The citrus...

Greatest Risks Seen in 14 States: AZ, AR, CA, CO, FL, ID, KS, MS, MT, NE, NV, NM, OK and TX; How Big a Threat to Food Supply? At-Risk Counties Are Home to Over $100 Billion in Crops. WASHINGTON, July 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Over 1,100 U.S. counties-- more than one-third of all counties in the lower 48 states -- now face higher risks of water shortages by mid-century as the result of global warming and more than 400 of these counties will be at extremely high risk for water...

No Statewide or Regional Declarations in Effect HARRISBURG, Pa., July 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Environmental Protection and other state and federal agencies continue to monitor water and moisture levels throughout Pennsylvania to assess the severity of dry conditions that would signal the beginning of a drought. Although much of the state saw very hot weather earlier this week and many areas have received little significant precipitation in recent weeks, no drought...

The strategy, detailed in the journal Science, prepares people for a hotter and drier Southwestern U.S. through water conservation and the continued development of ways to harness energy from the sun, wind and Earth.Two prominent climate experts, including one from the University of Arizona, are calling for a "no-regrets" strategy for planning for a hotter and drier western North America. Their advice: use water conservatively and continue developing ways to harness energy from the...

Cyclical changes in atmospheric pressure and sea surface temperature in the North Atlantic Ocean affect drought in the Sahel region on the southern Sahara rim. This has been revealed in an international study carried out by researchers from the University of Haifa, the French National Meteorological Service, Columbia University and the University of San Diego. The study was published recently in the scientific journal Atmospheric Science Letters (Royal Meteorological Society).That climate...

Trinexapac-ethyl proves effective during prolonged periods of drought stressIrrigation water for turfgrass has become increasingly restricted due to environmental factors such as insufficient precipitation; increased domestic, agricultural, and industrial consumption; and contamination of potable water supplies. This water deficit has created an increased need to identify promising water conservation strategies and implement stringent restrictions in water use.In their ongoing search for ways...

A new study has found that the Northeast is seeing more frequent "extreme precipitation events" in line with global warming predictions, including storms like the recent ones that have brought floodwaters to neighborhoods and businesses across New England. The study does not link last week's devastating floods to its research, however it looked at 60 years' worth of National Weather Service rainfall records in nine Northeastern states and discovered that storms that produce an inch...

On Tuesday, weather experts said that El Nino has peaked and would probably disappear by mid-year. "The most likely outcome by mid-year 2010 is for the El Nino event to have decayed and near-neutral conditions to be re-established across the tropical Pacific," World Meteorological Organization expert Rupa Koumar Kolli told the AFP news agency.El Nino is a weather anomaly that wrecks havoc around the Pacific and east Africa.  It is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and...