I'm sure I'm *not* the only one, but I'm here in the Charlotte area. We are the midst of a fairly severe drought. Between this lack of rain and the extreme temperatures we had in August/September, I'm really getting very concerned. I've never been very liberal or an environmentalist, however, I've always tried to be very conservative w/ electricity/gas, etc. (That goes w/ my frugalness, LOL.)

That said, I DO completely support "the idea of" global warming - I personally don't understand the people that say it's not real, scientists are just alarmists, etc etc - and this situation truly makes me feel that it's a very ominous sign. Does anyone else agree with me?

Lastly, the lack of rain and water in our area really concerns me. We now have less than 120 days of water supply left, and I read this morning that Atlanta has about 2 months' worth of water. What happens then? To escalate the problem, the predictions, due to La Nina (sp?), are that of a warmer, drier winter, which is when the water supply is usually replenished.

What does everyone else think? If anyone can help ease my mind, that'd be great.

Suzanne

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Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant, filled with odd waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like. - Lemony Snicket

I am concerned for all of you in that area. I did see on the news a couple of days ago the Atlanta area only has an 81 day supply of drinking water left due to the drought (my ears always perk up when I hear any news about ATL because we used to live there and I love that area). There were alot of water restrictions etc. We had the opposite here this year, too much rain and flooding this summer, but to me that is better than none, because last year we went 6 MONTHS without any rain, it was awful. We are a big farming/ranching area and the wheat just died, the wildfires were crazy because everything was so dry, the dried grass just crackled under your feet, we didn't have hardly any apples or peaches on the trees because we didn't do any extra watering. We were never in danger of losing our drinking supply of water though.

Yes, it does bother me as well. I am in VA about 2 1/2 hours from Charlotte so I am experiencing the same thing here! We actually had a bit of hope yesterday as it was suppose to rain all day (70% chance). We did get a bit of rain but not nearly all day. It rained about a half a day (some rains heavy at times, thankfully). But...not nearly enough. Plus, we live in a rural area and have a well. I get very worried when there is no rain!

As for global warming...I totally think this IS happening. Years ago (five years or so) it would be really cold this time of year. By Halloween, we were wearing long sleeves and jackets. Now we go trick-or-treating in short sleeves! Plus, we haven't had a "good snow" in many years! We get flurries over the winter but haven't had alot of snow in so long!!! I love the snow and sure do miss it! Nowadays if we get a couple of inches of snow the kids are thrilled! I remember getting snow that was nearly a foot in depth (and for southern VA, a foot of snow is a "good snow" ).

I want some good precipitation ....Some good ole' drenching rains so that everyone has water and some deep snow so the kids can have the kinda fun I use to have in the winter on a snow day!

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Mom to a beautiful 15 year old DD and my handsome little man who's 6!

~~~GO DALE JR!!~~~

Well, we got y'all's rain. It rained here almost every day for 3 months. We got a full years worth of rain in 1 month. I felt like I lived in Seattle, not Central Texas.

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Mary

I, too wonder about the weather patterns going to extremes in many areas. Maybe 10 years ago, 20, I don't remember all the severities happening so often. Then, too, I wonder if it just isn't the media pushing all of this at us so we are more aware of what is going on.

dl

I am right above you suzanne and we are on a well. no city water this far out. booboo just went and cked it and we have about 6 ft of water. thats no where near the 15 ft we used to have.we are saving as much as we can. I wash dishes by hand when we have a sink full. we ( me and booboo ) takes showers together ( that part of it is fun.lol) we have a bucket under the drip from the a/c that we get about 5 gal a day from that we water the flowers with. the trees are dying,our garden died. we have rain barrells that catch the rain off the barn but it aint rained in months! am only washing cloths when we reallllllly need to . ( thank God I have a ton of underwear!) I HATE to go to the laundry mat but it may come to that. at least we didnt ahve to mow this 5.5 acres but 4 times this yr!

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I can feel your pain. We live about 1 hour below Charlotte. We are very worried here also. We bought a house at the beginning of the summer and I was hoping to re-landscape the yard this fall, but it isn't happening. I have plants from our other house to put into the ground. I have been using the dirty water form the dogs to do this. We bought a new front load washer 2 years ago, so it uses less water. I only wash when needed, but hubby has to wear a uniform (police officer) and only has 3 of them. He isn't able to wear them 2x as they are smelly at the end of shift. We have started using towel 3x before washing. I put them outside to dry so they don't stink. Luckily only have to run the dishwasher every other day. I refuse to leave a toilet unflushed. I think that is gross. Luckily my 2 boys are old (12 & 15) enough to not be wasteful. They understand what is going on and are trying to do their part. I've started shaving every other day to save water in the shower. I don't know what else to do to conserve.
Judy

I believe it is nature's way of balancing things out. The earth's climate changes for many different reasons.
This article was just on our local news today.
WSLS.com | Drought Helps Cleanse the James River

Veyy interesting to see that a drought can actually help improve the conditions in a river.

we have been taking military showers. turn the water on, get wet, turn it off , soap up, turn it on and rinse off. we plug the tub and when booboo gets out, i use the water in the tub to shave my legs. some of the neighbors are taking baths and then dipping the water out of the tub and putting it in a 5 gal bucket and using it to flush. I think we may have to go to that soon. also, we have been hand washing out stuff like socks and bras in the bathroom sink. thats a pain but its better than running the whole washer when you just need a few things washed.

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I have seen this on the news lately. Aside from the drought, I can't help but think that the population in Atlanta and the outlying areas is contributing to this. When driving thru that area, it seems about an hour out in either direction, the traffic is HORRIFYING. They are building everywhere, and I know of many people, personally, who have moved to that area recently.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I, too, believe it is cyclic and that we shouldn't be worried about the weather on a global scale. Day to day worry about what mother nature may have in store for the next season, yeah, but that's about as far forward as I go.

I remember the blizzard of 72. I've never seen snow like that again. I assume people were in a panic about it at the time. There were about 7' of snow in west Texas. This past year, it was ice storms. 60 - 70 years ago it was drought and we had a dust bowl.

we just moved to north of Atlanta last month, I didn't realize it was that bad until my husband came in here and told me to visit CNN.com! We live a few miles from Lake Lanier (I had wanted to rent a house there when we were looking for a place to live). When we leave the apartment complex, the plants along the road are being watered with big signs saying the irrigation is by lake water...

Last time we lived down here, the county we lived in was under water restriction, I don't think they ever let up on that in the 3-4 years we lived there!

Although it is true that the weather is cyclic, I have no doubt that than pollution and the production of greenhouse gases is accelerating the problem. The oil companies have spent an awful lot of money trying to deny that climate change is happening. They even use the same scientist who worked for the tobacco industry to deny that smoking had detrimental health effects.

Georgia's Governor declared a state of emergency today for 85 counties. Here's a news article about it.
State Of Emergency In Drought-Stricken Ga., Governor Asks For Federal Assistance, Water Use Restrictions Ramped Up - CBS News
Judy

Weather does go in cycles. We have only been keeping weather records for 150 years so we can see all of the cycles. When settlers came to Jamestown they died quickly. Scientists studied tree rings to find that the year the settlers came was a severe drought so the Cheasapike (spelling) Bay was much saltier than normal which may have caused some of the deaths. I just read a story to my students about the flood in Johnstown, PA. in the late 1800's ( I think it was 1899). They did not know that every 70 years they would have excess rain which caused flooding. There are many more examples throughout history.
That being said, here in Maryland we are going through the same thing. We had 1/4 of an inch of rain yesterday. We had not seen any rain for 35 days. I can count on my hand how many time this summer and fall that it has rained.

Oil companies always seem to get the blame for bad weather.

In truth, third world countries that burn coal cause far more pollution than US oil companies.