I think the Drought is OVER!!

R

retrvrman

New member
Just some very interesting info I read today:

By 5 p.m. Wednesday, the weather service?s flood watches had become flood warnings ? the highest level of alerts, which urge people to seek high ground immediately. Meteorologists along the Front Range watched in disbelief as rain gauges filled. By Wednesday night, Boulder County was experiencing a 1,000 year flood ? something that has 1/1,000th chance every year of happening, Schumacher said.

For Nielsson, the county?s emergency manager, last week?s floods make the Big Thompson Flood of 1976 look like ?a relatively tiny event.?

Nielsson remembers walking in the canyon afterward, where ?you would never know that a road had ever been put there.? A 17-mile swath of U.S. Highway 34 was washed away last week ? only a small portion of several miles of road around the state swallowed by floodwaters.

?This is worse than Big Thompson, and I never thought I?d say that,? said Erick Nielsson, the emergency manager for Larimer County. Nielsson was an EMT in 1976 when the Big Thompson River flood killed 143 people in Larimer County.

They have said that we (meaning most everywhere east of the Divide) has received a year's worth of rain in a week. I am not expert, however I would think that would end any kind of drought, water restrictions and all that.

I just do not want to hear about how we are still in a drought or under water restrictions. :mad::mad:

Greg
 
I'm not an expert by any means whatsoever, but i've always thought that just a few storms, whether it lasts one day or one week, doesn't necessarily end a long term drought. But i really don't know. I sure hope it's over though, i've had enough dry weather.
 
UplandLevi said:
I'm not an expert by any means whatsoever, but i've always thought that just a few storms, whether it lasts one day or one week, doesn't necessarily end a long term drought. But i really don't know. I sure hope it's over though, i've had enough dry weather.
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Please do not take offense, however I you saying that these have just been "a few storms"??:eek:

I would like to know from some who is smarter than me what it takes. I mean for heavens sake, does the Lord God almighty need to flood the world and we all build ARCs or what?

I don't know, I just know that I have read and heard that the Front Range of Colorado has gotten a years worth of rain in a week. That has to amount to something.

Greg
 
retrvrman said:
Please do not take offense, however I you saying that these have just been "a few storms"??:eek:
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Yeah, that's a good point, it has been more than just a few. Quite a bit more. But what i was trying to say i'm just wondering if all this rain came in one week, and then we're just back to dry weather as soon as it's gone. I don't think it'll go back to being that dry so quickly, but i just don't know. Hopefully someone that knows more than me about the science of droughts will see this and reply. :D
 
UplandLevi said:
Yeah, that's a good point, it has been more than just a few. Quite a bit more. But what i was trying to say i'm just wondering if all this rain came in one week, and then we're just back to dry weather as soon as it's gone. I don't think it'll go back to being that dry so quickly, but i just don't know. Hopefully someone that knows more than me about the science of droughts will see this and reply. :D
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I agree totally.....the good thing is that #1 it is September, which means cooler weather and it is the middle of September, which means October is right around the corner which means snow in the higher elevations possibly, so my hope and that is hope, is that perhaps this is a sign of things to come for the winter as in snowfall.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want blizzards and extreme cold, however it would be nice to have a good, snowy winter.

You know, being a weatherman or meteorologist must be nice because you still get to keep your job while being wrong 75% of the time.

From what I read, they (meaning the weather people) didn't think all of this would happen. But then again, I remember the blizzard of 1997 (October to be exact) and it snowed it feet from Cheyenne, WY to the New Mexico border and shut down the state. :eek::eek:

Greg
 
retrvrman said:
Don't get me wrong, I don't want blizzards and extreme cold, however it would be nice to have a good, snowy winter.

You know, being a weatherman or meteorologist must be nice because you still get to keep your job while being wrong 75% of the time.

From what I read, they (meaning the weather people) didn't think all of this would happen. But then again, I remember the blizzard of 1997 (October to be exact) and it snowed it feet from Cheyenne, WY to the New Mexico border and shut down the state. :eek::eek:

Greg
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Yes, exactly. I think it would be really nice to get a snowy winter this year. That's what i'm hoping for anyways.

And i was just talking about that recently, their wrong most of the time, yet everyone keeps listening to them. I think i could do that.
 
I hate to say this and I hope you guys are out of the drought but an event like this with tons of run off does little to snap a drought. How much water can be retained for use from this event? Not nearly as much as a steady weather event that builds a healthy snow pack.
 
Well only one dry year doesn't make a drought right? Just the same it takes a handful of consecutive years of good wet winters that produce healthy, water heavy snow packs to snap one. I don't know about over there but rainfall totals mean almost nothing around here. Its all about our snowpack and spring run off.
 
quail hound said:
Well only one dry year doesn't make a drought right? Just the same it takes a handful of consecutive years of good wet winters that produce healthy, water heavy snow packs to snap one. I don't know about over there but rainfall totals mean almost nothing around here. Its all about our snowpack and spring run off.
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Not sure where you are...however, I would have to think that rainfall amounts to something :confused::confused:

So if it didn't rain all summer, but snowed like crazy all winter and spring, like records, then it wouldn't matter if you didn't get a single drop of rain :confused:

Greg
 
retrvrman said:
Not sure where you are...however, I would have to think that rainfall amounts to something :confused::confused:

So if it didn't rain all summer, but snowed like crazy all winter and spring, like records, then it wouldn't matter if you didn't get a single drop of rain :confused:

Greg
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Yes exactly. Where I live (Ca's great central valley) is historically a wetlands during spring run off and a desert all summer. We normally get no measurable rain from late may- oct.
 
I have been through that area a few times (when I was active duty USAF, I traveled alot to California). I know that I was there once in March, everything was all nice and green and then back in like August/Sept and it was brown.:eek: Someone told me that is the reason why it is the "golden" state :rolleyes:

Things are a bit different over here on the other side of the continental divide, along the front range. Rainfall does help, however snowfall and snowpack is a major factor as well.

The thing is that rain makes corn and corn well makes more than whiskey ;) It helps with the crops, insects, weeds, grasses, helps out the birds on the plains on eastern Colorado, to KS, Nebraska, the Dakotas, etc....

Greg
 
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Yeah I figured things were a little different east of the divide. We are reliant on irrigation water and while rain can fill resivoirs only a healthy snowpack can keep them filled all summer. I hope you guys have a good winter but not severe, lord knows you've had enough severe weather, and the drought is indeed snapped.:cheers:
 
snow pack

quail hound said:
Well only one dry year doesn't make a drought right? Just the same it takes a handful of consecutive years of good wet winters that produce healthy, water heavy snow packs to snap one. I don't know about over there but rainfall totals mean almost nothing around here. Its all about our snowpack and spring run off.
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in colorado it is also a big deal but so is our 15" of rain per year on the plains. in my area we had a wonderful 3 1/2 of drizzle, boulder, just to the south received a 1 1/4 years worth of water in a few days. in about 2 more days, much of it will be in kansas and nebraska, it does help to fill some of our lakes both below and above ground though. in this case the damage was kinda much. still can't leave town to go east to shoot my new shotgun, horrible having a new toy and not be able to use it. actually i expect that the dove all washed south and there won't be anything to shoot at anyway

cheers
 
I have a fear that we might have a bad winter this year and I can only hope that if we do that the birds can find enough cover to get out of the weather and away from predators. Those of you who have worked your land for wildlife my hat off to you.
Life could really be bad for the birds considering lost of habitat, predators and hunters which might make it even worst next year for the breeding stock. I am not saying not go out and hunt because it is a management source I only hope that htere is enough cover for the wildlife. Might want to throw some old cedars or pines or ? what ever out for them ot hide in. just my 2cents.
any thoughts
 
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