Included here is a link to real media file of an interviiew on Canadian television with a drought expert from Agriculture Canada. I have included a transcript of the first minute of so of the interview, followed by a synopsis of what remains for the benefit of those without a real player. To summarize, the North American continent is slipping into a drought that is even worse than the drought of the dirty thirites, with record breaking persistent dry conditions that are worse than any other drought since records first began being kept. I was optimistic about some early June rains than came through, but with such a deficit in ground water, all these rains were good for was keeping down those dustbowl dust storms that came raging through in May (no dust storms recently, but without rain, I imagine they will soon return, leaving a layer of dust all over every surface in my house, my share of the blowing top soil ... let us hope that farmers begin once again to practice no till agriculture, as the farmers learned to do during the dirty thirties. The rains, as I have been fearing all month, only caused germination, and now the stunted crops are dying.


If you have Real Player, the following link brings up the interview...Drought report : 4:12 real media

A few quotes and a synopsis of the video...


A: We reported in our news about the fires burning accross the praries. They are the result of hot, dry weather, and that same weather is also causing problems for farmers. Crops aren't growing because there hasn't been enough rain and the drought is affecting the future of many farms. I am joined from Edmonton by Dave Keeley of Agriculture Canada's prairie farm branch. Good morning, Mr. Keeley.

K : Good morning Avril.

A: Could you give us a point of comparison, for those who need it, the drought of the dirty thirties...How does this compare to back then?

K: Actually the drought of the thirties was pretty deep, but this is a little bit deeper. We've got record dry conditions in parts of Alberta and into Saskatchewan, and we've got very dry conditions in the northern parts of the prairies.

A: And it was consistently dry over the last couple of years, is it not?

K: This has been building for a couple of years. We've got some really dry conditions. In fact we've got record dryness, back to the time we've been keeping records.


Avril then asks about the effects on farmers, and the reply is that cattle producers cannot find grass for their cattle or water for their cattle and are faced with tough choices about selling their herds (since purchasing feed is uneconomical). Record sales of cattle are already taking place on some parts of the praries. Crop producers are waiting to see if they can even get a crop. The video then shows scenes of the dry conditions and the dust, and stunted crops, yellow brown dead pastures. There was enough surface moisture for germination to take place, but no subsurface moisture, and farmers require half and inch to an inch of rain a week to possibly save the crops, and this has not been happening. Keeley did not sound optimisitic that even this much rain would save the crops which are already badly stunted, and in a short while, with more of this drought, will be completely ruined for the year. According to Keeley, if rains come 'it might help out these crops', but it is already getting late into the season, as his use of the word 'might' acknowledges' and it would seem then even with rain, it might be too late for this years crops. Irrigation is not an option, since water is being rationed (rivers are also at record low levels due to the winter drought in the Rockies. (Note that irrigation is also a problem in the Western States, with areas like Utah planning to ban irrigation of crops altogether to ration what little water remains). Keeley mentions the existence of Lake Deifenbaker, in Central Saskatchewan, perhaps providing some relief for the center of the province, however according to reports earlier in the year, the lake (created for a hydroelectric dam) is also experiencing falling water levels, and is required to provide power to the province, and so heavily tapping the lake is an option that has not been received enthusiastically, especially when there is so little water to replenish the store. Options for irrigation do not exist, according to Keeley, in most of the plains due to geography, and the choices are pretty much limited to rain, which is what we haven't got...

As well, hundreds of wild fires are burning on the prairies, with hundreds more started over the July 1st holiday long weekend. The thunderstorms that passed through were worthless for rain (dry thunderstorms, common in drought conditions) and the lightening was only good for starting hundreds of more fires. The same situation existed in the United States, with most of the small fires put out quickly before they could spread by rapid attack fire forces, and only 6 or 7 new large fires starting. The city of Prince Albert in Saskatchewan, has just barely escaped burning by one out of control forest fire, with fire fighters stopping the blaze with a fire line only a few miles out of the city. (Prince Albert and other towns on the fringe of the burning Northern Forests have been covered with smoke clouds for most of June as the drought situation in the Northern forests is even worse than it is on the plains.) Currently in the United States, the number of fires is equivalent to the ten year average, but the acres burned is currently three times the ten year average (the ten year average being around one million and the current total for this year being around three million currently, with months of the fire season left to go...)


The drought monitor resources show a rapid expansion of the most severe level of drought throughout the West from spring to summer. What is exceptional about this spring is the rapid spread of the most exceptional and severe drought, the worst catagory, throughout the mountains and now progressing into the plains with the east coast situation also deteriorating, and no hurricanes in sight, which I am sure is what the east coast would be hoping for (since on could hurricane could make up the deficit caused by the drought). As it is water rationing is becoming the norm as the continent sinks into devestation even worse than that of the dirty thirties, the most severe drought on record, since records began to be kept...The graphics included show the severe drought (the darkest colors) earlier this spring and currently, and you can see the spreading conditions, which, ominously, are moving east further into the plains. The next map shows the persistent low humidity (which causes these dry thunderstorms, good for only starting fires by lightening. While much has been made of two incidents of people starting fires to get work as fire fighters, most of the fires are caused by this dry lightning, and the fires, which have been called literally the 'worst in history' in Colorado and Arizona would never have been so severe without this record breaking drought that is engulfing the west.)

I have some links to graphical and informational drought resources on a drought watch page on my site...

By the way, one of those religious shows on the religious right broadcasting networks held a conference titled 'the Drought is over'. Far from it. The drought is spreading and what is remarkable is how the most extreme severe drought is rapidly spreading and now invading further east on the plains, as well as speading along the east coast. The drought is over? It is just building up steam, as this generation heads into the dirty 2000s, a period already worse than what happened during the dirty thirties, the worst in history, and from I can see, we still haven't hit bottom yet...I remember listening to my grandmother telling horror stories of the dirty thirties, her face always turning somber, and that event was the defining event of the lives of everyone who lived through those times, and I fear will become the defining story of hardship and misery for this current generation as well, given what I have observed as the months go by...

Related links :
The drought in the mountains last year set the stage for the current wild fires... Note that in the humidity graphics on this page, low humidity is in blue, and high humidity is in red. This year the map is reversed, and high humidity is in blue, which is more intuitive, while low humidity is in red, also more intuitive. The same pattern of low humidity is once again taking shape over the mountains this spring, and as the summer heat begins the problem will once again become severe...

Summer is over, harvest is past, and we are not saved...A report from last summer on the Canadian drought, which was called at that time, 'the most extensive and worst in history', and this year is shaping up to be even worse...

Dustbowl conditions return as dust storm blankets Western city May 21, 2002

Snap shots of one of these dust storms