Quote:
Originally Posted by Topspinmo
So far, nobody knows how long that will last.
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Quite true, but what is known is that the amount of water available from winter runoff which feeds Lake Mead IS cyclical: dependent mainly on precipitation which varies from drought conditions to conditions of ample water over period of years, and that the drought conditions in the past year or so, over much of the country but mainly in the southwest, have shown a tremendous improvement.
This, from "In June 2022, 99% of the Southwest was under some degree of drought. Just a year later, only 28% of the region is experiencing drought, according to the U.S. Drought monitor, which defines the Southwest as Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada." [B
]("Months of wet weather erase drought across the Southwest" Alex Hager/KUNC, July 3, 2023)[/B]
Much the same experience some years back when I lived in Duluth, Minnesota. The Big Lake was experiencing dropping water levels and of course we heard much mournful rhetoric about how that was going to negatively impact shoreline businesses, fisheries, water quality, etc. etc. After a couple of years of that though the tables turned: Superior was again up to where we were told it was supposed to be (actually a little over), and all was well. Only we never really heard much about those tables turning. Good news doesn't sell, I guess.
It seems as if it all comes down to cycles. Drought v. periods of ample water--even floods. Arctic-like winters followed by winters with relatively balmy temperatures. Hot Florida summers followed by not so hot Florida summers. Years of Hurricane seasons with a lot of hurricanes followed by years of few. Insect pests in huge numbers in some years followed by some years of little or none. And so on. We seem to keep chasing "averages" as if the average condition as far as we can determine them over the years, decades or even centuries were the Holy Grail, without realizing that a completely "average" year for whatever cycle we're studying almost never happens. And when we CAN'T nail those average years--well, then the sky is falling.
Mama Nature runs the show, and she seems to be doing a pretty darn good job at it. I doubt she knows or cares what we do to try to stymie her.