Drought was on the minds of millions of Midwesterners this summer.
In some areas, the lack of rain caused record-breaking dryness. Crops suffered; rivers ran low. Without proper watering, lawns turned brown and arid.
Though recent rain has spelled some worry, we are not out of the drought yet, according to Purdue University graduate student Derrick Snyder and his colleagues in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
In the Atmospheric Studies track, Snyder, a Frankfort, Ind., native, has access to the latest weather maps and models. The Midwest will need a lot of rain - and eventually snow - to put the drought behind it.
Question: How historic has this drought been?
Answer: What we went through in the early summer to the first part of August was a pretty historic bout of dryness. I would say, nationwide, it was the driest summer since 1956. Locally, some of the areasaround here were dryer than they were in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl years. Some places had the all-time record for dryness.
[More stuff here]
Drought was on the minds of millions of Midwesterners this summer.
In some areas, the lack of rain caused record-breaking dryness. Crops suffered; rivers ran low. Without proper watering, lawns turned brown and arid.
Though recent rain has spelled some worry, we are not out of the drought yet, according to Purdue University graduate student Derrick Snyder and his colleagues in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
In the Atmospheric Studies track, Snyder, a Frankfort, Ind., native, has access to the latest weather maps and models. The Midwest will need a lot of rain - and eventually snow - to put the drought behind it.
Question: How historic has this drought been?
Answer: What we went through in the early summer to the first part of August was a pretty historic bout of dryness. I would say, nationwide, it was the driest summer since 1956. Locally, some of the areasaround here were dryer than they were in the 1930s during the Dust Bowl years. Some places had the all-time record for dryness.
[More stuff here]