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> 1999
> August
> August 6, 1999:
Hour One: Drought
| As hot, dry weather continues across much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern US, the states of Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey issued mandatory water conservation measures this week. Maryland's restrictions are particularly strict. Residents face a fine of $1000 if they fail to honor water use restrictions, including bans on car washing, lawn-watering, and pool-filling. Maryland restaurants are banned from providing glasses of water unless customers ask for them, and golf courses have been ordered to cut water use by 80%. |  | Water restrictions are also in place in many of Pennsylvania's counties, and the entire state of West Virginia has been declared a drought disaster area. Other communities are expected to introduce mandatory restrictions if the drought continues.
What accounts for the continued dry spell? Rainfall tallies are running as much as a foot and a half behind normal in some areas in the Northeast - but, at the same time, much of the central US is unusually moist. Experts attribute some of the unusual weather patterns to La Nina, a periodic shift in the jetstream caused by ocean warming in the tropics. A stalled high pressure system called a Bermuda High off the southeastern seaboard also is helping to block moisture from reaching the Northeast.
Beyond parched lawns and crunchy crops, what does the drought mean for the environment? Dry forests may be at higher risk from fires. Low dissolved oxygen levels in less-than-gushing streams have led to fish kills. But at the same time, some scientists say that the drought may actually be good for the Chesapeake Bay. Less rain means less runoff carrying nutrients, soil, and chemicals into the Bay - and clearer waters with fewer algal blooms.
How do meteorology, climatology, hydrology and the environment intersect in the drought-stricken states? Pour yourself a cool glass of icewater and join guest host Brooke Gladstone for an hour of drought science on Science Friday.
Guests:
Bob Hirsch
Chief Hydrologist
United States Geological Survey
Reston, Virginia
Mark Wysocki
Meteorologist
Northeast Regional Climate Center
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York
David Skelley
Assistant Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
Yale University
New Haven, CT
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
National Drought Mitigation Center
United Nations Office
to Combat Desertification and Drought (UNSO)
La Nina For the Holidays (STN2)
Delaware
Governor Carper's 1999 Press Releases
- This segment produced by:
Annette Heist
Web producer:
Charles Bergquist
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