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Drought


The Pragmatist

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Newscasters are fond of saying "A flood is a disaster in slow motion." No. A drought better fits that description. And the damage which has already been done may not become apparent for years - overstressed trees, cracked slabs, lowered aquafers, etc.

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I live on the top floor of a little mid-rise well maybe low rise but not sure if that is a category. No grass, no plants etc and I WANT IT TO RAIN. Kind of a Pacific Northwest reverse depression maybe.

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I live on the top floor of a little mid-rise well maybe low rise but not sure if that is a category. No grass, no plants etc and I WANT IT TO RAIN. Kind of a Pacific Northwest reverse depression maybe.

I know that feeling. North and Central Texas have some pretty bad droughts from time to time and I got really tired of those, especially with the looming specter of low reservoirs. One year a major pipe burst east of McKinney and the only water left in town was what they had in the towers. I don't want to go back to that, but I guess this summer is just further proof to me that I can't seem to escape the drought.

Or... perhaps the drought just seems to follow me? Uh oh.

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Our area was fortunate this past week in that we received a nice shower on both Wednesday and Thursday. But, I'm afraid it was too late for some of our yards. Hard to revive dead grass.

Just enough to revive the mosquitos, though... :(

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Just enough to revive the mosquitos, though... :(

I'm kinda' hoping it was enough for mosquito eggs to be hatched, and then the puddles would dry up before they fully mature.

Just thinking of that happening a few times would make me giggle.

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  • 6 months later...

For those that are savy on meteorlogical issues, how do you determine if the drought is over? What if 2012 is a "normal" year... does that mean we are technically 20+" behind because of 2011? If we get normal rain forthe next 5+ years, would there still be a deficit based on that thinking? Is it based on a time period, total rainfall of all time, or is it based on water levels of large bodies of water and aquifers?

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The 20 inch deficit would qualify as a meterological drought. However, that is a simplistic definition of drought. Experts tend to look at more complex definitions, such as hydrological drought, which looks at levels of lakes, streams and aquifers, or agricultural drought, which looks at a lack of water for crops, and may include a dry index for soil. The recent rains have not taken us out of drought, though it is lessened in severity. And, though Lake Houston is nearly full, Lake Conroe is still down 8 feet. And, the dry conditions may return this spring and summer, when we have less capacity to handle it.

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I think we are still 20+ inches behind. Also, our lakes are not nearly overflowing.

The creek right by my office up in Spring pretty much top the banks, with water cresting, I can imagine some good flow further north is dumping into the lakes.

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White Oak is a raging river where it dumps into Buffalo. Buffalo was actually going backwards, for a few blocks, earlier. The Travis entrance to the freeways is flooded and closed. The freeway exit to Milam is open, though.

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White Oak is a raging river where it dumps into Buffalo. Buffalo was actually going backwards, for a few blocks, earlier. The Travis entrance to the freeways is flooded and closed. The freeway exit to Milam is open, though.

The news said that the flooded underpass on Travis was a dookie line backup. :huh:

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I thought the tree loss in Memorial and Hermann Parks was dramatic, until I was driving OST thru Macgregor Park recently. There's a whole swath along the road that's clear cut. Every tree gone.

I heard they replaced the trees, or at least started too at Memorial Park.

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