And now drought...

[Nearly Sane]

When do we get the plague of frogs?


https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/11/what-will-happen-if-drought-declared-uk-government

[Sriram]

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62519107

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From all the pictures of parched fields, dusty soil and dried-up reservoirs, it might appear obvious there's a drought.

But from a scientific point of view, it's more complicated than that.

There's no one definition of drought - it's different depending on whether you look at weather, agriculture or water flow in rivers and streams.

And when it comes to declaring an "official" drought, government agencies look at how the long dry spell is affecting food production, water supplies and the environment.

That includes how much rivers and streams are shrinking, which puts wildlife and water supplies at risk. They also look at threats to crops and livestock if fields are turned into dust bowls.

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This is not what science and technology were supposed to lead to.....! 

[Steve H]

This is one of a series of photos on Yahoo, purporting to show how severe the drought is. Well, I'm not denying or downplaying the seriousness of the situation, and most of the other photos are somewhat alarming but this is misleading: the River Ver, which is near me, is a chalk stream, and the section flowing through Redbourn and St Albans is a winterbourne, and as such dries up most summers: it'd be an unusually wet summer if it didn't.

[Nearly Sane]

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62519107

************

From all the pictures of parched fields, dusty soil and dried-up reservoirs, it might appear obvious there's a drought.

But from a scientific point of view, it's more complicated than that.

There's no one definition of drought - it's different depending on whether you look at weather, agriculture or water flow in rivers and streams.

And when it comes to declaring an "official" drought, government agencies look at how the long dry spell is affecting food production, water supplies and the environment.

That includes how much rivers and streams are shrinking, which puts wildlife and water supplies at risk. They also look at threats to crops and livestock if fields are turned into dust bowls.

************

This is not what science and technology were supposed to lead to.....! 

I'm struggling to understand your point here.

[Aruntraveller]

This is not what science and technology were supposed to lead to.....!

You are ascribing a quality to science and technology that they do not have. They do not "lead to" anything.

As usual, it is the human race's application, or rather, misapplication and misunderstanding of science and technology that has created so many of our problems.

That is not to negate many of the things that S&T has done to improve and transform the lives of so many of us.

[Roses]

They drought could go on well into next year in some parts of the UK, I have heard. We are supposed to have rain in our neck of the woods on Monday and a few days after that. We might have thunderstorms too, which I detest, having nearly been struck by lightning once.

[Sriram]

You are ascribing a quality to science and technology that they do not have. They do not "lead to" anything.

As usual, it is the human race's application, or rather, misapplication and misunderstanding of science and technology that has created so many of our problems.

That is not to negate many of the things that S&T has done to improve and transform the lives of so many of us.

Yes...that is obvious. Science and technology are human endeavors and human attempts at understanding and making life better for ourselves. It is human shortsightedness and lack of vision that has lead to such catastrophic situations. No doubt about that.

They drought could go on well into next year in some parts of the UK, I have heard. We are supposed to have rain in our neck of the woods on Monday and a few days after that. We might have thunderstorms too, which I detest, having nearly been struck by lightning once.

The problem is that these situations are not going to go away. They are going to repeat more frequently and more severely in the years to come. The new normal!   

[Steve H]

They drought could go on well into next year in some parts of the UK, I have heard. We are supposed to have rain in our neck of the woods on Monday and a few days after that. We might have thunderstorms too, which I detest, having nearly been struck by lightning once.

I was once nearly struck by lightning as well, but I love thunderstorms!

[Roses]

I was once nearly struck by lightning as well, but I love thunderstorms!

I have always been scared of them ever since I was a child, lightning caused damage to my childhood home on a couple of occasions. If I heard a bang when I was little, I would hide under the table. I was happy when I was told it wasn't thunder but a wartime mine being exploded on one of the beaches!

[Nearly Sane]

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