EdgeThe Southeast US drought map as of today. My region of Western NC is in one of the regions of extreme drought. El Niño will not make any of this better.
Interactive, can get down to individual counties.
saarmuller@czarbucks Not good.
The whole country is a mess, areas like Colorado with the Rocky Mountains and all of their winds are really in danger.
@czarbucks Here they predict a dry and hot summer (like ,1976, which was exceptional). At home our small " garden" is adjacent to one of the smaller canals. The subsurface of the garden is concrete so it dries quickly and some many years we use a solar panel plus pump to water it.
Surface water is a little more distant to my allotment but not too far away so I think I will buy a second panel plus pump. Nowadays they are small and not expensive.
Surface water is a little more distant to my allotment but not too far away so I think I will buy a second panel plus pump. Nowadays they are small and not expensive.
Maria Langer | 📝🛥️💎@saarmuller @czarbucks I am totally tuned in to desert gardening. I rely on irrigation to run daily. But instead of using sprinklers, which are so common in the east, I use a drip irrigation system that delivers droplets of water directly to the base of plants. It's a lot less wasteful while being able to deliver water exactly where it needs to be. My lawn does have three sprinklers, but it's a small lawn and I've fine-tuned them to water just the grass.
@mlanger @czarbucks Yes, our solar pump also is connected to irrigation drips. Although we could pump as much water as we want, we do not want to get more impurities than necessary. The nice aspect in our climate is that the pump stops on cloudy days when evaporation is a lot smaller here.
@saarmuller @czarbucks I like the idea of a solar pump. Unfortunately, I have to irrigate with city water which is very expensive where I live. I actually pay more money for water than I do for electricity every month. Summer is killer. My neighbors didn't realize the situation and put in a large lawn. They are tearing it out because it costs them more than $500 a month to keep it irrigated. Ouch! My lawn is tiny and my dogs really like it.
@czarbucks Maybe this will wake up the powers that be. The west has been dealing with drought like this on and off for decades, but because of sparse or population, it's generally ignored by Washington.
But then again, given our current powers that be, the situation will likely get a lot worse. They're unlikely to do anything about it.
HistorySheWrote@czarbucks We're in severe drought. I told hubby we need to start doing what I call Navy showers. He's not a fan. One thing I give us some grace on is that we are on a septic system, so whatever goes down the drain feeds back into ground water. But I still want to use less of the precious community water supply.
indi 🪡@czarbucks I'm in D3 level here in Florida. Scary stuff.
AI6YR Ben
Leon Cowle@czarbucks It’s pretty bad yes. For my exact area (and surrounding areas), we are VERY lucky to currently have missed it — zero drought level here. The 2 lakes that provide my greater area with water are 91% and 101% full. With quite a bit of rain in the 2 week forecast. It’s weird having this little pocket of non-drought, and in Texas of all places. But I’m grateful!
(https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?fips_48121)
(https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?fips_48121)
0ptimistAs long as #crazydonnie can properly water his golf courses... 🤣🤣
Jeri Dansky@czarbucks My sympathies. We've been through drought and water restrictions here and I feel fortunate we're doing OK on water at the moment.
The map is showing my county as D0 (abnormally dry) but I wonder if that will change after all the rain we had today (and supposedly will get tomorrow, too).
And I imagine within our county the coast might be different from the inland areas.
I'm really glad to know there are SOME areas of the country who aren't facing this, and without some huge storm, either.
I always have to couch my request for rain (silently) with "not like Helene."