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western NC drought?
- To: carolinabirds@duke.edu
- Subject: western NC drought?
- From: Joshua Stuart Rose <jsr6@duke.edu>
- Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 17:00:29 -0500 (EST)
- Sender: carolinabirds-owner@acpub.duke.edu
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