Raining in the UK vs USA droughts, slightly OT

[Portia]

Have known about this for a while, have family state-side, but for news of the severe droughts to make UK news indicates the situation has become exceptional.
In the Southeastern states, lakes are some 15 feet below their normal water level, the states of Georgia, Alabama and Florida are battling over water resources, and with the hurricane season pretty much over things don't look good for our American friends.

So, when we all go to turn-out or bring in, and curse the rain, cold and mud - be thankful! I'd far rather have rain, than worry about how I'm going to fill the next water bucket.

[wanabe]

Well, the U.S. is a big place. I wasn't aware we were having droughts. Certainly here in eastern Texas we're having a pretty normal year. Summer was actually wetter than normal.

[KateWooten]

Yeah, really. And the hay situation ! Holy Cow.

Mind you, don't be too over-generous with the sympathy from over there ... we're paying 1/4 as much as you guys for petrol - and whining about it. And not cutting down a single mile from our journeys. I know people who drive a 1-ton 7.5L truck as their regular car, and think nothing of moving 30 miles away from work to be in a nicer subdivision. We're deforesting these mountains faster than the rain forests, and we have No planning laws. Developers are building subdivisions further and further out of town, and the super-highways to go with them, and the strip malls, because people want to live 'in the beautiful countryside'. We have recycling boxes brought to the door, and we still can't be bothered to separate cans and paper out. In terms of climate change, you can pretty much state, 'we don't give a toss, and god will provide' as being the attitude just round my local area.

[Portia]

I'm surprised. From what I hear from friends in the Carolinas, they're talking about stopping the automatic sprinklers on the golf courses! Now THAT is severe!
have a look at this...

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/seasonal_drought.html

[KateWooten]

Oh No ! Not the golf-courses ! Whatever next.

Our New Neighbours in the big subdivision (yes, the one that destroyed half the mountain-side) were having an awful moan about their water bill. They're just on the right side of the line to get the county water, and it's dam-controlled from over the mountain so they don't have a restriction, and they're moaning cos of the cost of watering their newly installed 3 acre lawn with fully automatic waterers. Helllooo - it was a freaking first class hay-meadow last year - hay - grass, you know ? You didn't need to weedkiller the whole lot and lay down your perfect green astroturf and then water it every day in hundred degree weather - you could have used the grass that was already there (oh, no could never do that 'local' grass, whatever would the neighbours say ?).

I'm no use at all around these people. Most of my OH's family live on a gated golf-course, and on occasion when visiting, I have had to bite my tongue when someone says 'isn't it beautiful' and I'm so tempted to say 'yes, it must have been once'. :o

[Trewsers]

I didn't realise they were having droughts - to be honest, we moan quite a lot here in good old England (we northerners are the worst!!!) but, I'm always glad that we don't seem to have extremes of weather like our foreign friends - I know there have been talks of tidal waves recently along the coastline but that is quite rare, and I know certain parts of the south flooded quite badly in the past - but, on the whole we don't do too bad compared to others. I often wonder how people with horses cope in such extreme conditions.

[Portia]

"Most of my OH's family live on a gated golf-course"

Yes mine too, on the NC/SC border. They started going on about how low the lakes and rivers were a few months back - drive around the course and the fairways are flourescent green... in part because they've been using the lake water to supply the sprinklers ('because there'd been no decent rainfall?!). Duh.

Area used to be virgin swamp, went back earlier this year and the amount of new build in the local was phenomenal. And they wonder why natural resources are disappearing fast.

[Lora]

we haven't been as affected by any droughts this year in Ohio. But I did see the effects in late summer when I went south to Tennesee. Lakes that I've been seeing for years suddenly were like 6 feet lower. All the darned houseboats were worried about getting stuck!