Politics

/

ArcaMax

Mark Gongloff: New York's freak 'flash drought' will become less freakish

Mark Gongloff, Bloomberg Opinion on

Published in Op Eds

Maybe it never rains in Southern California, but for about a month this fall it also never rained in New York City, which this week asked citizens to conserve water. Or Philadelphia. Or Dallas. Or several other U.S. cities that went from unusually wet in some cases to bone dry in a flash.

In fact, “flash drought” is the term for this sort of phenomenon. It joins “zombie fire,” “firenado” and “thundersnow” in the growing lexicon of freak weather events that normal, non-meteorologist people are having to learn as the climate grows hotter and more chaotic.

Normal droughts typically happen after long stretches of little or no rainfall. Flash droughts happen when a dearth of rainfall coincides with other factors, such as high temperatures and high winds, that suck moisture out of the ground. Sometimes they’re tied to La Niña weather patterns in the eastern Pacific Ocean. But we’re not in one of those yet, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In the case of this fall’s flash drought, the U.S. has just ended its fourth-hottest summer ever, with cities from Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale to Caribou, Maine, suffering record-smashing highs. And then it simply stopped raining. New York, which typically gets about 4.5 inches of rain in October, got nada, leading Mayor Eric Adams to issue a drought watch for the city and giving new viral life to former Mayor Ed Koch’s must-see 1980 ad to “Keep New York City Wet.”

New Jersey, meanwhile, has been cosplaying as California, with much of the state on wildfire alert. Philadelphia had its first rainless October since at least 1872. Asheville, North Carolina, went from drowning in Hurricane Helene to getting less than an inch of rain in its 10th-driest October on record — a reminder of how wild and extreme the weather is becoming even in supposed climate havens.

In late October, more than 87% of the continental U.S. was under at least “abnormally dry” conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the highest percentage on record going back 24 years. In June, only about a quarter of the continental U.S. was abnormally dry.

Of course, the weather isn’t climate, and flash droughts aren’t new. Climate change may not have caused the latest one. But climate change has already made flash droughts much more likely, according to a 2023 study in the journal Science. And they will grow even more frequent in the decades ahead if we keep spewing greenhouse gasses and heating the planet, according to a 2022 University of Oklahoma study.

 

The water shortages and wildfires that flash droughts fuel are dire enough for human health and safety. But they can also do significant economic damage. Low water levels hold up shipping on the Mississippi and other rivers. Crops suffer from the lack of moisture, and livestock don’t have enough to eat. This fall’s flash drought will keep cattle supply tight, according to the data-analysis firm DTN. That means higher prices at McDonald’s and the grocery store (unless everybody just cuts down on beef, which wouldn’t be a bad idea for their health, wallet or the climate).

Farmers, ranchers, shippers, policymakers and more will have to do a better job of anticipating and preparing for flash droughts — including being more careful about how much water we use, no matter where we are in the country. A lot of us (myself included) might have looked around at a bone-dry New York or Mississippi last month and said, “Hey, this isn’t normal.” But flash droughts are increasingly and uncomfortably the norm in a warming world. We still have the power to make sure they’re not total disasters, if we’re willing to use it.

_____

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Mark Gongloff is a Bloomberg Opinion editor and columnist covering climate change. He previously worked for Fortune.com, the Huffington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

_____


©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com/opinion. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

ACLU

ACLU

By The ACLU
Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman

By Amy Goodman
Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Bill Press

Bill Press

By Bill Press
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
Clarence Page

Clarence Page

By Clarence Page
Danny Tyree

Danny Tyree

By Danny Tyree
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders

By Debra Saunders
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Dick Polman

Dick Polman

By Dick Polman
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
Froma Harrop

Froma Harrop

By Froma Harrop
Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

By Jacob Sullum
Jamie Stiehm

Jamie Stiehm

By Jamie Stiehm
Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

By Jeff Robbins
Jessica Johnson

Jessica Johnson

By Jessica Johnson
Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

By Jim Hightower
Joe Conason

Joe Conason

By Joe Conason
Joe Guzzardi

Joe Guzzardi

By Joe Guzzardi
John Micek

John Micek

By John Micek
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Marc Munroe Dion

Marc Munroe Dion

By Marc Munroe Dion
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan

By Michael Reagan
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

By Oliver North and David L. Goetsch
R. Emmett Tyrrell

R. Emmett Tyrrell

By R. Emmett Tyrrell
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Robert B. Reich

Robert B. Reich

By Robert B. Reich
Ruben Navarrett Jr

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
Ruth Marcus

Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich

By Susan Estrich
Ted Rall

Ted Rall

By Ted Rall
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell

By Tom Purcell
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

Michael Ramirez Bob Englehart David M. Hitch Adam Zyglis Christopher Weyant Bart van Leeuwen