Wild, Wild Weather in Central US

Extreme heat, severe storms, major flooding grips central United States

Central United States could expect a smorgasbord of extreme weather this weekend including  extreme heat, severe weather and major flooding: Forecasters

US Weather Hazards Map – July 1, 2011

Click image to enter NWS interactive portal.

Today’s Hydrometeorological briefing from the NWS includes:

• Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories for the northern and central Plains, the Upper Mississippi Valley and the Middle Mississippi Valley (Excessive Heat Warnings were already in effect this morning for northwestern Missouri, northeast Kansas and eastern Oklahoma.)
• Critical Fire Weather conditions in parts of southwestern Colorado, western Kansas, the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles and surrounding areas
• Severe thunderstorms across the northern and central Plains and the Upper Mississippi Valley
• Continued major flooding on the Missouri River and tributaries from North Dakota to Missouri

Dangerous heat will threaten very young, the very old and the infirm from northern Minnesota to the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles and along the Missouri and Mississippi River drainages.

• Heat indices for northern areas are expected to be in the high 90s and low hundreds
• Actual high temperatures in parts of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas are expected to range from 106 to 110 degrees.
• Many areas will see their second day of such extreme heat with little or no overnight cooling. Areas under heat warnings and advisories include:
• Eastern North Dakota and South Dakota and Nebraska
• Kansas
• All of Minnesota but the Arrowhead
• Iowa
• Northern, central and southern Missouri;
• Eastern Oklahoma;
• All but very northern Wisconsin
• Western Illinois.

Red Flag Warnings

Red Flag Warnings, prompted by extreme heat (temperatures as high as 106-110 degrees) combined with windy conditions (20-25 mph) and low relative humidity (as low as 4-8 percent) for parts of 7 states:

• Nevada
• Utah
• Colorado
• Western Kansas
• New Mexico
• Oklahoma Panhandle
• Texas Panhandle.

Missouri River Breaches SW Iowa Levee

Meantime, the Missouri River has breached another section of a southwestern Iowa levee, forcing 1,200 people to evacuate and closing part of Interstate 29, authorities were reported as saying.

“About 40 miles of I-29 was closed from Bartlett, Iowa, to the I-29/US 136 interchange in Missouri now because of Missouri flooding and another 16 mile stretch of the interstate is closed in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, area across from Omaha.”

Global Disasters To Intensify

FIRE-EARTH Models show that global disasters could intensify in the 9 month period starting about July 2011 compared with the previous corresponding period (pcp). See: WARNING: Global Disasters to Intensify

Related Links

• Back to the Primordial Future
• U.S. corn production may fall on flooding, heat, drought
• WARNING: Global Disasters – June 21, 2011

U.S. Drought Getting Deadlier

Drought Conditions to Worsen: FIRE-EARTH

Drought Conditions in the Southern U.S. Continue to Fuel Wildfires

Drought conditions are destroying or causing extensive damage to crops in the southern United States, fueling wildfires that have consumed about 8 million acres, so far this year, killing wildlife and farm animals alike, destroying thousands of homes and leaving tens of thousands of people displaced in at least a dozen states.

In the past 3 days States of Emergency have been declared in at least 87 counties spanning three states of Kansas, Oklahoma and North Carolina.

Kansas Drought

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated 25 more Kansas counties as disaster areas due to crop damage caused by the ongoing drought.

Oklahoma Drought

Drought conditions and raging wildfires in Oklahoma prompted the Lt Gov to declare a state of emergency for 33 counties in that state.

North Carolina Drought

On Friday, N.C. Gov. declared a state of emergency in 29 counties due to drought conditions and raging wildfires.

• State of Emergency Declared in 29 North Carolina Counties
• State of Emergency Declared for 33 Oklahoma Counties
• Disaster Declared in 25 More Kansas Counties

U.S. Drought Map for June 21. Compared with the previous week (see below) the latest drought map show worsening drought conditions, in all categories (C0 -C4) throughout the stricken areas.

Note: US Drought Monitor defines drought as “a protracted period of deficient precipitation resulting in extensive damage to crops, resulting in loss of yield.”

U.S. Drought Map for June 14, 2011 included for comparison. (See above).

The Drought Monitor Report

According to the Drought Monitor report, 70 percent of Texas experienced “exceptional drought,” the worst level of drought, over the period June 17 – June 24, 2011.

Also 91 percent of the sate was stricken by either exceptional or “extreme” drought, the second-worst category.

Arizona was experiencing exceptional or extreme drought in 70 percent of its land up by 3 percent from the previous period.

Louisiana saw exceptional drought rising to 65 percent of the state, a near three-fold increase, and Oklahoma 35 percent, up from about 8 percent previously.

Drought Monitor Maps showing classification changes for selected time periods. Source: National Drought Mitigation Center/UNL. Click images to enlarge.

Drought Conditions to Worsen

FIRE-EARTH Climate Models show an exceptional worsening of drought conditions in the southern and western United States through October/November 2011.

External Links

• Texas Wildfires Could Cost $500 Million 
• The cost of wildfires in Arizona soars to more than $100 million
• “Right now, Georgia can’t afford any more wildfires”
• Cost to battle Duckett Fire estimated at $5.2 million

Related Links

• Massive Pender Fire Killing Many Animals
• U.S. Wildfires News and Blame Games
• WARNING: Global Disasters – June 21, 2011

• North America Fire and Smoke Hazards – June 20
• Wildfires Raging in Arizona, Alaska, NC, Georgia, Texas …
• U.S. Wildfires – June 21 Update
• U-S Drought: Mega Disaster Unfolding

• VEGETATION
• Weather
• Wildfires
• World Now

Mega Disasters:

• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• FEWW DISASTER FORECAST 2011
• 2011 Much More Disastrous
• 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• Megadisasters Loom

• 2010 Disasters
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• 2010 Disaster Calendar
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Earth’s Human Induced Antiphase Nears Completion

Massive wildlife die-offs occur in Northern Rockies

Big-game animals record die-offs in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming

Harsh winter,  heavy snows and sustained freeze [dividends of climate change] in the Northern Rockies caused the record die-offs

“Elk, deer and moose—those animals are having a pretty tough time,” said a Wyoming Game and Fish biologist.

Rocky Mountain Bull Elk. Image credit: Mongo

“Wildlife managers estimate die-offs in the tens of thousands across thousands of square miles that span prairie in northeastern Montana, the upper Snake River basin in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park and the high country of northwestern Wyoming near the exclusive resort of Jackson.” Said a report.

The estimated mortality rate among mule deer fawns in a wildlife management reserve near McCall in central Idaho jumped to 90 percent this winter, 4 and a half times the average annual rate, the report added.

Die-offs are occurring in the tens of thousands across a vast area measuring several thousand square miles from prairie in northeastern Montana, to the upper Snake River basin in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park and the high country of northwestern Wyoming.  More …

Related Links

• EDRO Models: Mass Die-Offs Looming
•  The 6th Great Extinction: Sooner Than Expected