Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Oct 20, 2007, at 8:57 AM, EarthNSky wrote:
> I know there are water issues out in the Southwest.  Perhaps it is my
> ignorance of the specific issues, but I don't equate the the two...

I wrote about Western drought and then made the connection thusly:
"What occurs is that the current drought in NW Georgia, east
Tennessee, and part of the Carolinas and, I believe, Alabama, is not
an anomaly--it is a recurring cycle--and we should plan to handle
such conditions."

My point is that all parts of the US have been and will forever be  
subject to recurring cycles of varying climatic conditions, including  
precipitation, whether as snow or rain.

> For those that have never been here, north Georgia is almost identical
> to southern Missouri in its flora, fauna, and topography. It is highly
> forested and hilly, with lots of springs and creeks and rivers.  If it
> can happen here in a few short years, it can happen there.

Absolutely. My area here in south-central Missouri is about seven  
inches below normal as I write this. Down here in the bottom of a  
hollow my grass is green from recent rain and the stream is normal  
for this time of year but in the trenches I have been digging, the  
ground below is dry. The North Georgia area has a recorded history of  
quite a bit more annual rainfall that Southern Missouri, I believe.  
Here, the average has been about forty to forty-five inches per year.  
What is it in Northern Georgia?

Climatologists predict that global warming conditions will include  
greater precipitation at the poles and diminished precipitation in  
the subtropical areas. Haven't got a globe with me, does someone know  
to which are we closer, the poles or equator? I am guessing the latter.