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western NC drought?



Hi Carolinabirders,

With the winter ending, the string of western (and other) invaders has 
slowed some. However, not stopped completely, as evidenced by a 
McGillivray's Warbler being seen in south Florida... Also out of south 
Florida, the Western Grebe reported from Sanibel has been reidentified by 
several folks on the ID-Frontiers mailing list as a probable 
Western/Clark's hybrid. Anyone who gets good looks, or even better good 
photos, of either the Avon Pier or CBBT birds might want to examine them 
with this in mind; Frank and I are plotting a visit to Avon ourselves 
this weekend, probably tomorrow. Frank needs Harlequin Duck, Western 
and Red-necked Grebe, and Glaucous and Thayer's Gull as life birds; I 
need all of the above as state birds, plus Little Gull as a lifer. Wish 
us luck...

Below is something only tangentially bird-related: a news story on the 
worsening drought in the Carolina Piedmont and mountains. Bad news for 
our local fish, amphibians, and most other creatures. On the other hand, 
might be an opportunity for a better-than-usual spring shorebird 
migration for those of us who live inland, as the reserviors get low and 
expose their mud flats.

Good birding,

Josh

Joshua S. Rose
Duke University
Department of Biology (Zoology, R.I.P.)

jsr6@acpub.duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/~jsr6/

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/02/02232001/krt_drought_42141.asp

Drought conditions worsen in Carolinas

  Friday, February 23, 2001
  By Bruce Henderson, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

  Don't let last week's rain fool you: Drought across major parts of the 
Carolinas is deepening. 

  Streams, reservoirs and groundwater in the Piedmont and mountains are 
running on empty, thwarting hopes that winter rains would begin to lift 
the region out of a 31-month dry spell. 

  From October through January, state officials say, the Charlotte region 
was the driest it's been since 1948. South Carolina hasn't seen the likes 
of the current drought, which dates to mid-1998, for more than 40 years. 

  Water supplies across the two states are likely to suffer this spring 
and summer, experts say, unless rain starts falling hard and soon. Water 
demand, as homeowners water lawns and fill pools, begins rising in March 
and April. 

  "If we don't receive any significant amounts of rain in the next four 
to six weeks, it's potentially going to be a very long summer," said 
Curtis Weaver, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist who watches N.C. 
stream flows. "Winter is the time for recharging, and in these last few 
months, it hasn't been happening." 

  Charlotte is 21 percent under its normal rainfall since July 1998, 
Asheville is 26percent and Greenville, S.C., 30 percent. Weather experts 
blame La Nina, the cooling of Pacific Ocean waters that sends 
high-altitude winds to the Carolinas from the northwest, where they can't 
pick up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. 

  The U.S. Drought Monitor, which compiles data from federal agencies, 
last week expanded its extreme-drought label to cover most of Western 
North Carolina. Charlotte, the Piedmont and northwestern South Carolina 
are in a severe drought. Only Florida rivals the intensity of the arid 
Carolinas. 

  Short, severe dry spells toast fields and forests. This stealth drought 
saps the region's natural capital - streams and groundwater. 

  While a few months of normal rainfall could replenish streams and 
reservoirs, some experts say it could take years for groundwater to fully 
recover. 

  Streams, which feed reservoirs and carry away treated sewage, are 
flowing at less than half their normal levels. Until last week's rain, 
many streams were at 10percent or less of normal flows. A U.S. Geological 
Survey map of national stream flows paints a bull's-eye - red and orange 
dots denoting critically low levels - over the western half of the 
Carolinas. 

  During the first two weeks of February, at least 72 of the 101 N.C. 
streams the survey monitors set daily record lows or flowed at minimal 
levels. More than half the S.C. streams set daily low-flow records over 
the weekend of Feb. 10-11. 

  When no rain falls, streams run almost entirely with groundwater, 
further bleeding the hidden reserves. For the third year in a row, slow, 
soaking winter rains have failed to replenish the ground. 

  Greenville, S.C., is nearly 40 inches shy of its normal rainfall since 
mid-1998. 

  "It's like somebody turned off a spigot," said Frank Eskridge of the 
Greenville Water System. The largest of the system's three reservoirs is 
down 21feet, but still well above the 40-foot drop regarded as critical. 

  A state-maintained well in Greenville is at its lowest water level 
since it was installed in 1973. "In the 1980s, we thought the water level 
would never go lower," said Bud Badr, a hydrologist with the State 
Climatology Office. "Now we're a foot-and-a-half below that." 

  At Charlotte's Hornets Nest Park, a well the state uses to monitor 
groundwater, hit a record low for January. A geological survey well near 
Mocksville, 60 miles north of Charlotte, has set records since December. 

  Reservoirs should be brimming now. More rain normally falls this time 
of year, evaporation drops, and plants and people demand less water. 

  Instead, Concord, Harrisburg and Kannapolis are banning at-home car 
washing and begging for four-minute showers. High Rock Lake, on the 
Yadkin River northeast of Charlotte, is at 58percent of its normal 
capacity. Water officials elsewhere are nervously eyeing low reservoirs.

  "We would like to be completely full by the end of March, because that 
marks the beginning of the dry season," said Tom Frederick, a water 
official in Asheville, where the reservoir is down 9feet. "If things 
continue to be dry, that could become a problem." 

  Drought watchers fear a resurgence of private wells going dry. South 
Carolina is already urging well owners to find alternate water sources. 

  "We had five for the week in mid-January," said April Miller of B&K 
Well Drilling in Mooresville. "You'll usually see a couple-three a month." 

  Low streams hurt more than drinking-water supplies. 

  Duke Power, trying to maintain water levels in its Catawba River 
reservoirs, cut its normal hydroelectric production in half last year. An 
N.C. wildlife agency delayed stocking trout in some mountain streams last 
fall because the fish were overcrowded in the shallow water. River guides 
have changed paddling routes to seek deeper water. 

  Duke says it can't keep lake levels up indefinitely without substantial 
rain. "We're probably looking at a four- to five-year window of above- 
average rains to get back to recovery," said spokesman Guynn Savage. 

  Recovery didn't begin this winter. Through Monday, Charlotte was about 
6 inches below normal rainfall since October. Asheville was about 2 1/2 
inches short, and Greenville, S.C., has had about 4 1/2 inches less than 
normal. 

  "We are very concerned because we did not receive the normal rainfall" 
this winter, said Hope Mizzell, drought-response coordinator for the S.C. 
State Climatology Office. "We saw the impacts last year, and we're afraid 
those are going to be compounded." 

  Water in South Carolina's lakes Marion and Moultrie ebbed so low last 
summer that some marinas and other businesses closed, Mizzell said, 
losing $5million in business. "A lot of them are reaching bankruptcy," 
she said. 

  The National Weather Service predicts March through May will continue 
to be unusually dry. Drought watchers hope that's wrong. 

  "It's going to depend somewhat on the intensity and frequency of the 
rainfall," said Tony Young, chairman of the N.C. Drought Monitoring 
Council. "Most folks think it's going to take several months of wetter 
weather to get back into the normal range. 

  "It's just going to take some good, soaking rains." 

  Copyright 2001, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.
  Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
  All Rights Reserved