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The eyes of Texas are upon cloudless skies

02 Aug 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord promises to "rain down bread from heaven," says the reading from the Book of Exodus this Sunday. As water levels drop precipitously in Texas, the nation's most drought-stricken state, people are just praying it will rain. Texas is sizzling under relentless 100-degree days, and waterways are drying up, especially in the hardest-hit area covering about 350 miles of south-central Texas. Residents are worried about the water supply--and how long it might last. There are 230 Texas public water systems under mandatory water restrictions, including those in and near San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Another 60 or so have asked for voluntary cutbacks. Water levels are down significantly in lakes, rivers, and wells around Texas. "The water table's fallin' and fallin' and fallin,'" said Wendell McLeod, general manager of Liberty Hill Water Supply Corp. and a 60-year resident of the town northwest of Austin. "This is the worst I can recall seeing it. I tell you, it's just pretty bleak." According to drought statistics released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 77 of Texas' 254 counties are in extreme or exceptional drought, the most severe categories. No other state in the continental U.S. has even one area in those categories. John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist at Texas A&M University, said he expects harsh drought conditions to last at least another month. In the bone-dry San Antonio-Austin area, the conditions that started in 2007 are being compared to the devastating drought of the 1950s. There have been 36 days of 100 degrees or more this year in an area where it's usually closer to 12. Smatterings of light rain have occurred in the area this week, but not enough to make much difference. But hopefully the end is in sight. Victor Murphy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said an El Nino system is developing in the Pacific Ocean. That phenomenon is usually followed by increased rainfall in Texas in autumn. Source: An article by John McFarland for Associated Press

texas water supply drought wendell mcleod department of agriculture john nielsen-gammon victor murphy el nino
Starvation looms in drought-stricken Africa

31 Jul 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The hand of the Lord feeds us,” the psalmist proclaims this Sunday. The United Nations is urging “massive” action to feed millions in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa region. An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia--about a third of the population--are on the brink of starvation. Millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years. The U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) began an airlift of food aid on Tuesday into the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as well as into eastern Ethiopia and northern Kenya on the border with Somalia. Josette Sheeran, executive director of WFP, said that a deadly combination of natural disaster and regional conflict had created this emergency, resulting in soaring levels of malnutrition. This Sunday’s gospel relates how with limited food supplies Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes. It will take a worldwide effort of near miraculous proportions to avert a famine that would be “the scandal of this century,” warned French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire Monday. Apart from massive food deliveries, he called for action to bring down high food prices on international markets. Counterterrorist concerns have also complicated and slowed the response. In recent years the United States has cut humanitarian aid to Somalia on the grounds that that al-Shabaab, the militant Islamist group that controls much of the south, will divert assistance to its own profit. Al-Shabaab denies that Somalia is suffering from a famine and continues to prohibit UNICEF and WFP from operating in the country. Despite earlier promises of access, it now declares that only the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies may remain. As a result, said Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, "More than 3.5 million Somalis, the vast majority of them in the insurgent-held areas, may starve to death." Sources: Articles by Sabina Castelfranco for Voice of America Newsand Stewart M. Patrick for the Council on Foreign Relations

drought josette sheeran world food program food aid bruno le maire somalia horn of africa starvation
Corn harvest coming up dry this summer

15 Jul 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Farmer-turned-prophet Amos, featured in this Sunday’s first reading, would likely sympathize with U.S. corn farmers who face potentially severe drought conditions. But the nation—and many other nations that depend on U.S. corn exports—hope the psalmist has it right this Sunday in promising that “the Lord himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase.”Time may be running out. The worst Midwest drought in a quarter century is doing more damage to U.S. crops than had been anticipated, already shrinking corn yields to the lowest in nearly a decade, the government said on Wednesday.More of the country is in moderate drought or worse than at any other time in the 12 years of records kept by the U.S. Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. More than half of the contiguous states are thirsting for more water In corn-growing states such as Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, 45 to 50 percent of the corn crop is in poor or very poor condition, according to the gauge.“Both the number of record highs in the past week, and the areas with record and near-record dryness over the last 1 to 3 months, are too numerous to mention,” the Drought Monitor said.The scorching conditions are wreaking havoc with corn plant pollination, a critical stage that largely determines how kernels develop. If ample rain doesn’t fall very soon, U.S. farmers may face catastrophe, said Matthew Rosencrans, a National Weather Service meteorologist who specializes in drought.Coupled with intense demand worldwide for corn products—a key component in a variety of consumer foods and goods—analysts now fear that supermarket goods including meat, vitamins, textiles, and anything made with corn syrup will become more expensive. Sources: Articles by Charles Abbot for Reuters, Alan Bjerga for Bloomberg Businessweek, and Tiffany Hsu for the Los Angeles Times

united states drought corn corn products us drought monitor
Corn harvest coming up dry this summer

15 Jul 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Farmer-turned-prophet Amos, featured in this Sunday’s first reading, would likely sympathize with U.S. corn farmers who face potentially severe drought conditions. But the nation—and many other nations that depend on U.S. corn exports—hope the psalmist has it right this Sunday in promising that “the Lord himself will give his benefits; our land shall yield its increase.”Time may be running out. The worst Midwest drought in a quarter century is doing more damage to U.S. crops than had been anticipated, already shrinking corn yields to the lowest in nearly a decade, the government said on Wednesday.More of the country is in moderate drought or worse than at any other time in the 12 years of records kept by the U.S. Drought Monitor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. More than half of the contiguous states are thirsting for more water In corn-growing states such as Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee, 45 to 50 percent of the corn crop is in poor or very poor condition, according to the gauge.“Both the number of record highs in the past week, and the areas with record and near-record dryness over the last 1 to 3 months, are too numerous to mention,” the Drought Monitor said.The scorching conditions are wreaking havoc with corn plant pollination, a critical stage that largely determines how kernels develop. If ample rain doesn’t fall very soon, U.S. farmers may face catastrophe, said Matthew Rosencrans, a National Weather Service meteorologist who specializes in drought.Coupled with intense demand worldwide for corn products—a key component in a variety of consumer foods and goods—analysts now fear that supermarket goods including meat, vitamins, textiles, and anything made with corn syrup will become more expensive. Sources: Articles by Charles Abbot for Reuters, Alan Bjerga for Bloomberg Businessweek, and Tiffany Hsu for the Los Angeles Times

united states drought corn corn products us drought monitor
Sizzling summer fatal to fish

12 Aug 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Elijah nearly perished in the desert before God saved his life by providing food and water that refreshed him. Hundreds of thousands of fish in the Midwest are perishing in drought- and heat-stricken areas where water is scarce and hardly refreshing—some 40,000 sturgeon died last week in Iowa when water temperatures reached 97 degrees. One fishery biologist said he’d never seen anything like it. Nebraska fishery officials said they've seen thousands of dead fish of various species in the Lower Platte River, including endangered ones. Biologists in Illinois said the hot weather has killed tens of thousands of fish. "It's something I've never seen in my career, and I've been here for more than 17 years," said Mark Flammang, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. "I think what we're mainly dealing with here are the extremely low flows and this unparalleled heat." The fish are victims of one of the driest and warmest summers in history. The federal U.S. Drought Monitor shows nearly two-thirds of the lower 48 states are experiencing some form of drought, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared more than half of the nation's counties—nearly 1,600 in 32 states—natural disaster areas. More than 3,000 heat records were broken over the last month. Source: An article by Grant Schulte for the Associated Press

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