Has the Dust Bowl Returned?
Has the dust bowl returned? A great article by National Geographic discussing the hardship in the Oklahoma panhandle. The only issue I found at first glance was the climate change claim: “the science shows that the region is trending toward hotter and drier.” That is simply false according to the OK Mesonet data shown below, unless you want to cherry pick the last 10 years. Nothing is unusual looking back at recorded history. Prior to 2006 there was a surplus of rain for 25 years in a row. Even a drought does not always correlate to above normal temperatures either. Temperatures over the past 10 years have been above normal in that region, I’ll give you that, but so were the 30s and 50s. The majority of the past 100 years has actually been spent below normal temperature wise whereas precip seems to be split pretty evenly between feast and famine with drought cycles lasting anywhere between 5 to 10 years at a stretch. The current one we are in should end by 2016. Bottom line, the OK Panhandle has always been and will always be a tough place to live and farm for those brave enough to do so.
You can read the article here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140516-dust-bowl-drought-oklahoma-panhandle-food/
