Drought Destroys Crops in U.S. West, Puerto Rico

Drought destroys crops in 5 states and Puerto Rico

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated 80 counties across five states—California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington—and 8 municipalities in Puerto Rico as crop disaster areas due to damages and losses caused by drought.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #1

• Idaho: Adams, Boise, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Custer, Gem, Idaho, Latah, LemhiLewis, Nez Perce and Valley counties.

• Montana: Lincoln, Missoula and Ravalli counties.

• Oregon: Wallowa County.

• Washington: Asotin, Pend Oreille and Whitman counties.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #2

• Oregon: Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Polk, Tillamook, Washington and Yamhill counties.

• California: Del Norte and Siskiyou counties.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #3

• Washington: Adams, Asotin, Chelan, Clallam, Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, Douglas, Ferry, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, Island, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Kittitas, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Okanogan, Pacific, Pierce, Skagit, Skamania, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Thurston, Wahkiakum, Whatcom, Whitman and Yakima counties.

• Idaho: Benewah, Latah and Nez Perce counties.

• Oregon: Hood River, Multnomah and Wallowa counties.

Crop Disaster Areas – Designation #4

• Puerto Rico: Aibonito, Arroyo, Cayey, Coamo, Guayama, Patillas, Salinas and Santa Isabel municipalities.
  

Crop Disasters 2015

Beginning January 7, 2015 USDA has declared crop disasters in at least 1,692 counties, or county equivalents, across 26 States: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

USDA has also designated 8 additional municipalities in Puerto Rico as drought disaster areas.

About 99 percent of the 2015 crop disaster designations so far are due to drought.

Crop Disasters 2014

In 2014, USDA declared crop disasters in at least 2,904 counties across 44 states. Most of the designations were due to drought.

Those states were:

Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan. Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. [FIRE-EARTH has documented all of the above listings. See blog content.]

Notes:
i. USDA trigger point for a countywide disaster declaration is 30 percent crop loss on at least one crop.

ii. The counties designated as agricultural disaster areas, as listed above, include both primary and contiguous disaster areas.

iii. Some counties may have been designated as crop disaster areas more than once due to multiple disasters.

iv. The U.S. has a total of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents.

v. The disaster designations posted above were approved by USDA on August 5, 2015 .

Related Links

• Extreme Weather Events Destroy Crops in 10 States July 30, 2015
• Crop Disasters Declared in Six States July 23, 2015
• Drought Destroys Crops in Florida, Idaho , Montana, Utah, Washington & Puerto Rico  July 16, 2015
• U.S. Drought: Crop Disaster Declared for Idaho Counties July 10, 2015
• Drought Destroys Crops in Six U.S. States July 2, 2015
• Drought and Deluge, Hail and Severe Freezing Destroy Crops in 7 States June 25, 2015
• Drought
• Agricultural Disasters Index

Record winter warmth in the U.S. West

Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and Washington experience warmest winter on record: NWS

California also broke the winter (December 2014-February 2015) temperature topping the previous seasonal record set just last year by 1.5°F.

An additional five states—Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming—had one of their 10 warmest winters on record.

The western U.S. was warmer than average, with eight states also recording a top 10 warm February.

In contrast, many northeastern states experienced their second coldest temperatures on record, with  temperatures plummeting to record cold in several individual cities.

Record snowfalls were widespread in the East, while record warmth engulfed much of the West, said NWS.

The winter contiguous U.S. temperature was 34.3°F, 2.1°F above the 20^th century average, but the February temperature was 33.1°F, 0.7°F below the 20^th century average, ranking near the median value for February in the 121-year period of record*.

The February Lower 48 precipitation total was 1.70 inches, 0.43 inch below average, and marked the 20^th driest on record. The winter precipitation total was 6.12 inches, 0.67 inch below average, and the 27^th driest. Despite near-normal precipitation in February, long-term drought concerns continue in the West, compounded by a lack of mountain snowpack.

NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: National Overview for February 2015, published online March 2015, retrieved on March 8, 2015 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2015/2.

90 Percent of All Quakes Strike U.S.

SEISMIC HAZARD
HEIGHTENED GLOBAL SEISMICITY
SCENARIOS 08, 07
.

U.S. Struck by 90 Percent of All Earthquakes in 7 Days

Some 1,425 earthquakes of all magnitudes have struck the United States in the past 7 days, or about 90 percent of total globally.

7 Days, All Magnitudes Worldwide: 1,592 Earthquakes – Updated: 2014-06-30 12:02:59 UTC earthquakes in map area:  1,425 . Source: USGS/EHP

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecast

For detailed FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts tune into UDCCpf daily @ 06:32UTC.

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 Related Links

• U.S. West Shaking Like Jelly  June 30, 2014
• Significant Quakes Strike Tonga Trench; Aftershocks Rattle NM June 30, 2014
• Significant Quakes Strike NM, Japan Region, Visokoi Island June 29, 2014

 

U.S. West Shaking Like Jelly

SEISMIC HAZARD
HEIGHTENED GLOBAL SEISMICITY
SCENARIOS 08, 07
.

Intense Waves of Low-level Seismicity Continue to Rattle Western United States

Intensifying waves of low-level seismicity in the western U.S. continue affecting the entire region.

FIRE-EARTH Forecast: Earthquakes could cause significant damage in Utah.

EQ Location Map. 7 Days, All Magnitudes Worldwide – 1,625 earthquakes – Updated: 2014-06-30 @ 02:03:29UTC + 870 earthquakes in map area. Source: USGS/EHP

FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts for California

FIRE-EARTH Science Team has suspended its research on California seismicity, Japan ditto.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE: FIRE-EARTH EQ Forecast

For detailed FIRE-EARTH Earthquake Forecasts tune into UDCCpf daily @ 06:32UTC.

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 Related Links

• Significant Quakes Strike Tonga Trench; Aftershocks Rattle NM June 30, 2014
• Significant Quakes Strike NM, Japan Region, Visokoi Island June 29, 2014