posted 03-26-2002 07:30 AM            

PLATFORM - A vessel, such as a submarine or an aircraft carrier, from which weapons can be deployed. and/or any military structure or vehicle bearing weapons.
Also: A device or contrivance for supporting, carrying, or conveying persons or objects. The device may be a stationary fixture, such as a tower or pedestal, or it may be a vehicle, such as a land conveyance, vessel, aircraft, or spacecraft.

posted 03-26-2002 11:27 AM            

That's according to the Water Sources Task Force, which heard reports yesterday that twice the normal rainfall is needed to approach an end to the drought.

The task force says normal rainfall would help communities avoid a water crisis but wouldn't lessen the drought.

The drought in the western Piedmont has moved from severe to extreme, just one step away from the worst category of the U-S drought monitor.

The majority of the rest of North Carolina remains in a severe drought.

Rainfall was below normal in February, and meteorologists expect the same in March.

North Carolina is in its fourth year of drought conditions.

Several water systems remain under mandatory water conservation measures, including the towns of Concord, Landis, Kannapolis and China Grove.

posted 03-26-2002 12:51 PM            

-------------------------=>

NORTHEAST COASTERS:

posted 03-26-2002 05:14 PM            

Drought conditions persist despite new rainfall
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3607077&BRD=1091&PAG=461&dept_id=425707&rfi=6

3/26/02
Portland Press Herald

King to seek U.S. aid for drought
http://www.portland.com/news/state/020326dryking.shtml

3/26/02
The Associated Press

posted 03-26-2002 08:26 PM            

Tree-ring evidence, allowing reconstructions of the levels precipitation, indicate that the worst drought to afflict North America in the past 500 years also occurred in the mid-16th century, when severe drought extended at times from Mexico to the boreal forest and from the Pacific to Atlantic coasts (6). These droughts appear to have interacted with ecologic and sociologic conditions, magnifying the human impact of infectious disease in 16th-century Mexico.

It seems to indicate that sh*t rolls down hill when it comes to this type of natural catastrophe, and all without the *aid* of airplanes...

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol8no4/01-0175.htm#1

posted 03-27-2002 10:40 AM               

Oh, BTW off the subject here. Did you know the USDA is entertaining a notion to basically BAN non-hybrid SEEDS?? Control of FOOD too. http://www.thecampaign.org/cornalert0302.htm

A bit off topic, but it illustrates the type of minds we're dealing with here. Bush Boy is a big buddy of Monsanto. More on that at my newsletter site later today at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LLNews

posted 03-27-2002 12:47 PM               

That little monsoon we had here dropped an additional 0.44" of precipitation after midnight which brings up the total of precipitation since January to (drum roll) 4.34". We're definitely seeing a pattern here.

posted 03-28-2002 06:58 AM            

Chemtrails still reported frevently on the west coast but no more drought - 'splain, please.

>>NEW YORK (AP) - Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared a drought emergency in the city Tuesday, restricting water usage by residents and businesses.
"Our city is in the midst of the worst drought it has experienced in a decade," Bloomberg said.<<

So what happened 10 years ago?

Sorry you folks on the East Coast didn't recevice any benefits from that front. We're sure hopin' that was the last winter storm for the season here (and north of here.) But I remember a major snow on Easter Sunday as a kid in Chicago. One thing you can count on to change is the weather.

I know of a company that sells a product you can use to keep moisture around your prized shrubs, trees, etc. http://www.dynomat.com/moist.shtml

Edited for this addition after reading the morning news-
"It was so dry in 1930 that the normally moist surface layer in the Mid-Atlantic turned to powder, allowing the sun's energy to concentrate exclusively on raising the temperature rather than evaporating water. As a result, many of the all-time-hot records hail from that summer. Given an extreme drought along with the extreme pavement growth of the Washington area, a temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit will not be out of the question in 2002. The rural record, set in July 1930, is 109 degrees.
As an antidote to what will certainly be over-hype in an already bad situation, perhaps a look at long-term trends in record warm and cold temperatures over the United States is in order. The reference for this is a 2001 paper in the journal "Climate Research," published by our research group at University of Virginia.
We do live in an era of climate extremes; i.e. extreme journalism about climate. But do the observed temperature extremes merit the lurid coverage we're about to see again this year?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20020327-11804796.htm

posted 03-28-2002 08:38 AM            

Troll alert

posted 03-28-2002 09:42 AM               

quote:

---

I have a bag in my garage just in case.

---

posted 03-28-2002 09:54 AM               

EPA: Water biggest environmental issue of 21st century...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0328/p25s01-usmb.html

posted 03-28-2002 10:47 AM            

Drought is not over despite rain and snow

Recent rain and snow are helping, but experts warn the drought is far from over in northern New England.

In Maine, more than 400 people have contacted county or state emergency management officials to report dry or low wells in the past 48 hours, even as parts of the state received a drenching rain.

"The count is increasing literally by the minute," said Art Cleaves, director of the Maine Emergency Management Agency.

Most of northern New England received between 3/4 and two inches of precipitation, as rain or snow, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The latest rain pushed the precipitation in Portland, Maine, to 8.4 inches for the year through Tuesday night still 1.8 inches below normal.

"It's not enough to end the drought, but it helps," said Tom Hawley, hydrologist from the National Weather Service office in Gray, Maine.

In New Hampshire, the recent precipitation will help New Hampshire finish the month wetter than normal, the state's drought control manager, Jim Gallagher, said.

But Gallagher said normal is not enough.
"We need twice normal for March, April and May to get out of this," he said.

In Vermont, Tuesday's storm dropped between four and 10 inches of snow, translating to between 3/4 of an inch and two inches of precipitation.

"It will tend to help" ease the drought, said John Goff, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Burlington.

So far this year precipitation in Vermont is only slightly below normal. It's only when measured over the last year that the drought shows.

"Drought is kind of insidious. It kind of sneaks up on you. Recovering is the same way," Goff said.

The summit of Mount Washington has received 38 inches of snow so far this month, and is on track for an average month, said Steve Bailey, a summit weather observer. The summit's average March snowfall is 42.5 inches.

New Hampshire's largest lake, Lake Winnipesaukee, rose 1.5 inches because of the storm, but is still about 17 inches below full.

The weather pattern may be changing in an encouraging way, said Barry Keim, New Hampshire's climatologist.

"The storm track pattern seems to have shifted so that we are getting some consistent rain," Keim said.

The National Weather Service says northern New England will stay in this pattern for the next week or two. After that, the weather is expected to revert to the pattern that caused the dry conditions.

In Maine, the announcement that Gov. Angus King planned to ask President Bush to declare a disaster on Monday spurred hundreds of people to call emergency management officials.

On Wednesday, Sen. Olympia Snowe announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will send agents to Maine to assess drought damage.

People are urged to call the Maine Emergency Management Agency at (800) 452-8735 to report the problem.
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/086/region/Drought_is_not_over_despite_ra%3A.shtml

Heeeeere's TRACI:

3/28/02
USA Today

Rivers down to barest of levels; 57 waterways at historic low flow in drought, analysis shows

By Traci Watson and Paul Overburg

DEPOSIT, N.Y. -- In good times, one of the best fly-fishing rivers in the eastern United States surges past this Catskills town, its waters full of magnificent trout.

These are not good times.

Ten months of drought have bled Deposit's river to a puny stream. In some spots, it can be easily crossed on foot. Fishery biologists say they fear that by July, the river will be so low and so warm that the trout won't bite and might die in massive fish kills. Neither scenario would lure anglers, who usually bring millions of dollars a year to the local economy.

The plight of Deposit's river is not unusual.

A USA TODAY analysis found that scores of the nation's rivers fell to historic low levels during the past four months.

Using U.S. Geological Survey data that track the flow of rivers nationwide, the analysis identified 59 points on 57 rivers that reached record low levels in March.

The analysis showed that 40 of those points also had reached a record low in one of the months of December, January or February. Less water flowed down these rivers than at any comparable time in at least 30 years and, in many cases, as long as 80 years.

Drought has drained more than the nation's rivers.

Across America, drought has parched soil, dried up once-reliable wells and all but emptied drinking-water reservoirs. Rural folk and city-dwellers alike are feeling the pinch from the shortfalls of rain and snow.

Using temperature and precipitation data, federal scientists calculate that severe or extreme drought has spread over 21% of the country.

More than half the states have been affected, among them almost every single state along the East Coast. Only those states along the West Coast and in the Mississippi Valley have been spared.

The total area stricken by drought is only slightly larger than normal for this time of year. But experts say the severity and persistence of the drought is much worse than normal.

"What's unusual is we're seeing some pretty intense multiyear droughts," says Mark Svoboda, a climatologist at the National Drought Monitoring Center at the University of Nebraska..... [more]
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020328/3977377s.htm

Oh - and here's a little something I came across last night:

3/26/02
USDA News Release

SEVEN COUNTIES IN MASSACHUSETTS ELIGIBLE FOR USDA EMERGENCY FARM LOANS

CHICAGO, March 26, 2002 -- Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman today named seven counties in Massachusetts as eligible for USDA emergency farm loans due to losses caused by excessive rainfall, ***very limited sunshine*** and below-average temperatures that occurred in the year 2000..... [more]
http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2002/03/0116.htm

posted 03-28-2002 11:46 AM            

Monitor Breakfast

Selected quotations from a Monitor Breakfast with Environmental Protection Administrator Christine Whitman

Excerpt:

On which environmental issue is the No. 1 challenge:

"I would put it in terms of what I think our single greatest challenge is, and I don't know how we are going to solve it all, and that is water.

I think water is going to be the biggest environmental issue that we face for the 21st century in both quantity and quality. The agency doesn't really deal with quantity much - that falls more under (the Department of) Interior and others. But (EPA) clearly has an impact on quality.

As you look, not just for the United States it is around the world. If you look at what is happening in the Middle East, there are some severe droughts going on. Water is a major problem - clean water in Afghanistan. We have a million children dying a year from waterborne diseases around the world, entirely preventable. And here in this country we look at enormous costs - anywhere from $480 billion to $1 trillion in infrastructure repair needs in cities and around the nation.

... we have gotten really good at identifying and correcting the problem that comes from a single source from a pipe that's emitting into a stream. We are having now to get to the point where people understand what they do in their driveway can end up somewhere far away and have a cumulative impact

posted 03-29-2002 07:01 AM            

Anyway, still waiting for someone to explain how "chemtrails" caused the drought on the Pacific Coast last year and now it's reversed. Also would like to know how "chemtrails" still appear over the Midwest, specifically Indiana, but no signs of drought here? We had a mild one in 2000, but recovered during the summer of 2001.

The originator of this thread had one thought in mind, while the enviromentally concerned have another. So what are we discusssing here - apples or oranges? Same old, same old - selling oranges (environmental concerns) and advertising them as apples (on the coattails of "chemtrails"). This is "Chemtrail" Central and this is the "Chemtrails" forum section. It's a pretty far reach to blame lack of water and drought on "chemtrails," especially when there is still no definitve, tangible proof of a deliberate "spraying" of such anywhere for any purpose.

BTW, Thermit, my partner in the 3 legged race had 5 legs in use. But it got pretty slimey in that sack. They always stick me with the toids.

posted 03-29-2002 12:16 PM            

What are you now - the Thread Police?

Are participants of this forum to understand, while you continue to freely lard the board with the Massive Weight of your Irrefutable Evidence that there is NO connection whatsoever between what is observed by all to be occurring in our skies and the many interestingly coincidental *environmental* changes ALSO being observed by all, that we, who report these changes because they ARE directly observable, are to just shut up about it?

You must be communicating with "real scientist" Patrick Michaels, too. You know - Mr. Free Market Incentives himself, who appeared on NightLine Tuesday evening and was observed to put his foot in his sneering mouth at the last minute of a very *interesting* discussion, indeed, regarding the *environmental* changes being hallucinated by so many these days.

posted 03-30-2002 06:29 PM            

Years of drought parching the East

In Maine, the governor is planning to ask President Bush to declare the state a disaster area because of an "unprecedented drought" not seen there in 107 years.

In New York, the mayor has declared a drought emergency beginning Monday.

In Georgia, farmers in the southwestern part of the state will be paid more than $5 million for the second year in a row not to irrigate 40,000 acres to keep water flowing in the Flint River.

Drought is engulfing the East Coast, confronting many locales with their worst water shortages in years.

From Maine to Florida, rivers and streams have been setting records for low flow. Thousands of wells have run dry.

In New York state, six months of low rain have left upstate reservoirs half-full. Typically at this time of year, the reservoirs are at 90 percent.

In many places, the drought is entering its fourth year. Since May 1998, when Georgia's drought began, the rainfall shortage is 50 inches -- the equivalent of an entire year's worth of precipitation.

And the dry spell affects more than the East. North-central portion of Montana is in its sixth year of drought, posting the lowest winter wheat production since 1940. In Kansas, farmers have been trucking in water or selling off cattle. In Wyoming, officials are considering seeding clouds with silver iodide to produce badly needed rain in the face of a dry spell of more than three years.

In all, the drought covers about a third of the United States.

Recent rains in many part of the nation have helped. But weather forecasters say the dryness will worsen in the coming months because snowfall and early spring rains are not replenishing water supplies.

"This is a sleeping giant," says climatologist Mark Svoboda at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Lincoln, Neb. "The impact is still to come."

Weather experts are beginning to compare the current dry spell with the drought of the 1930s, the time of the Dust Bowl, when up to 70 percent of the country was parched and dust clouds sometimes blotted out the sun for days at a time.

posted 03-30-2002 07:07 PM               

producing dire health and economic hardships on millions of Americans.

On second thought, they really don't have anything to worry about that couldn't rapidly be eliminated with but a single pen stroke on an Executive Order.