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The drought of 2012 is leaving America dry and thirsty

In its monthly drought report, the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., announced that 55 percent of the U.S. was in a moderate to extreme drought at the end of June. The bone-dry conditions expanded last month in the West, the Great Plains and the Midwest, fueled by the 14th warmest and 10th driest June on record, the report said. CBS News reported on July 16th that the drought conditions now covered 80 percent of the nation – the widest area since 1956.

Please Lord, let it rain!

Here in upstate New York the water level in streams and ponds is below the normal summertime levels; and it’s only mid-July. The old Erie Canal – you know, that erstwhile “Clinton’s Ditch” that some wayfarers walked along – appears to be close to drying up in some spots in Madison County. I’ve watched Largemouth Bass swimming in water that barely covered their backs with no deeper holes to find relief in. Granted, the canal for years has not been filled to its original depth when packet boats were pulled by mule teams trotting the towpath. Still, despite the lower depth in the old ditch, the water in many spots is dangerously low for big fish to survive in.

We’ve experienced drought before in America, and it certainly the hot dry summer of 2012 is not on par with the Dust Bowl conditions of the “Dirty Thirties” – but nevertheless this is a potentially grave situation that we are encumbered with. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on July 16th that more than 20 percent of the U.S. corn crop is in poor condition due to what is considered to be the worst drought in nearly a quarter century. As well, peanut crops are being adversely affected by the record heat and dry conditions and it doesn’t require a rocket scientist to extrapolate that all grocery prices will continue to rise in an already over-stressed economy.

The summer of 2012 in America and around the world is analogous to a tinderbox of dry kindling wood situated too close to a can of of nearly $4.00 a gallon gasoline. Combined with the wood and gas is oppressive heat and poor air quality.

We are parched, distressed, and need rain to fall in the natural and pour in as living water from the supernatural. Indeed, we are like the fish that have barely enough water to cover our backs.

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