[permaculture] Keyline Design - "Challenge of Landscape" book

Richard Archer permaculture at juggernaut.com.au
Mon Oct 17 17:41:04 EDT 2011


On 15/10/11 12:12 AM, Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:

>  On another topic I am wondering about drought conditions here and in
>  Australia, and Texas too. Looks like we may be entering a dry spell
>  here in Chapel Hill, little or no frozen precipitation predicted for
>  NC this winter whereas much more of that in states nearby, especially
>  upper midwest and northeast.

If neighboring states are receiving average precipitation and it's dry 
near your place then that's probably just a statistical anomaly. In this 
case you can expect to receive average rainfall in the months ahead. But 
if winter precipitation makes up a major portion of your annual rainfall 
then even average rainfall could leave you in a difficult position 
water-wise.

Australia had been in the grip of an El Nin~o event for the last 8 or 9 
years. But the drought broke spectacularly last summer with massive and 
widespread floods. More cyclones and floods have been forecast for this 
summer. El Nin~o and La Nin~a are linked cyclic systems. So if we're in 
drought, North and South America experience above average rainfall.

So now we're having floods and above average rainfall, you could expect 
to receive below average.

I'm not sure that the effect of El Nin~o extends to the Carolinas... I 
would expect your weather to be governed more by Atlantic systems, 
although all weather systems are linked.

One of the likely effects of climate change are more unpredictable and 
extreme weather events, including periods of below average rainfall. If 
you are highly dependent on access to water, it might be worth 
investigating the option of sinking some dams or wells/bores.

...Richard.




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