One-fifth of US in drought, little relief seen
Date: 13-Feb-03
Country: USA
The drought, which began last year, has withered grazing pastures, dried up water reservoirs and reduced crop yields, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"From year to year, it is not unusual for some area of the country to be in drought at some point," said Douglas LeComte, drought specialist with NOAA's climate prediction center.
"However, the extent of last summer's serious drought conditions measured by the Palmer Drought Indices has not been seen since the mini-dust bowl drought of the mid-1950s. Even now, over one-fifth of the nation is in severe drought."
Although recent rain and snow have improved drought conditions in parts of the West, the precipitation totals have not done enough to replenish reservoirs in all Western states except California, NOAA said.
The extreme conditions have prompted Democrats in the U.S. Senate to demand $3.1 billion in farm disaster aid as part of a massive government spending bill. Senate and House negotiators this week were trying to negotiate a compromise on the farm aid, which threatened to hold up the entire $396 billion bill.
In 2002, Colorado measured its driest calendar year since records began in 1895. Meanwhile, the nearby states of Nebraska, Wyoming, and Nevada recorded their third driest year.
Government forecasters blamed the severe drought in part on the weather phenomenon La Nina, which ended in early 2001 but helped initiate the Western drought that lingers today.
The current El Nino weather pattern has continued drought conditions in the northern Rockies and surrounding areas, NOAA said. Typically, El Nino is associated with above-normal rain and snow across the Southwest, but the wet conditions have failed to yet kick in, forecasters said.
Another factor contributing to the drought is a large-scale, sea-surface temperature pattern that has persisted since 1998, with record warmth in the western Pacific and cool waters in the eastern Pacific, NOAA said.
NOAA forecasters will release a U.S. spring outlook on March 20. (Reporting by Julie Vorman, edited by Gary Crosse; Reuters Messaging: julie.vorman.reuters.com@reuters.net; 202 898 8467).
