Page 3 - ARUBA TODAY AUG 16 2022

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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 16 augusT 2022

Northeastern farmers face new challenges with severe drought

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) which is very likely due to
— Vermont farmer Brian climate change, said Van-
Kemp is used to seeing dana Rao, director of wa-
the pastures at Mountain ter policy in Massachusetts.
Meadows Farm grow slow- "We hope this is maybe
er in the hot, late summer, one period of peaking of
but this year the grass is at drought and we get back
a standstill. to many more years of nor-
That's "very nerve-wracking" mal precipitation," she said.
when you're grazing 600 to "But it could just be the be-
700 cattle, said Kemp, who ginning of a longer trend."
manages an organic beef Rao and other water ex-
farm in Sudbury. He de- perts in New England ex-
scribes the weather lately pect the current drought
as inconsistent and impact- to last for several more
ful, which he attributes to a months.
changing climate. "I think we're probably go-
"I don't think there is any ing to be in this for a while
normal anymore," Kemp and it's going to take a lot,"
said. said Ted Diers, assistant di-
The impacts of climate rector of the New Hamp-
change have been felt shire Department of Envi-
throughout the Northeast- ronmental Services water
ern U.S. with rising sea lev- Hay farmer Milan Adams stands in a dry hay field near a wind sock, left, in Exeter, R.I., Tuesday, division. "What we really are
els, heavy precipitation Aug. 9, 2022. hoping for is a wet fall fol-
and storm surges causing Associated Press lowed by a very snowy win-
flooding and coastal ero- ter to really recharge the
sion. But this summer has setts. Rhode Island's gov- attributed to the impact drought in one location aquifers and the ground-
brought another extreme: ernor issued a statewide of climate change, since and extreme rainfall in an- water."
a severe drought that is drought advisory Tuesday warmer temperatures lead other, a pattern that has Rhode Island's principal for-
making lawns crispy and with recommendations to greater evaporation played out this summer est ranger, Ben Arnold, is
has farmers begging for to reduce water use. The and drying of soils, climate with the heat and drought worried about the drought
steady rain. The heavy, north end of the Hoppin Hill scientist Michael Mann in the Northeast and ex- extending into the fall.
short rainfall brought by the Reservoir in Massachusetts said. But, he said, the dry treme flooding in parts of That's when people do
occasional thunderstorm is dry, forcing local water weather can be punctu- the Midwest, Mann added. more yardwork, burn brush,
tends to run off, not soak restrictions. ated by extreme rainfall Most of New England is ex- use fireplaces and spend
into the ground. Officials in Maine said events since a warmer at- periencing drought. The time in the woods, increas-
Water supplies are low or drought conditions really mosphere holds more mois- U.S. Drought Monitor issued ing the risk of forest fires. The
dry, and many communi- began there in 2020, with ture — when conditions a new map Thursday that fires this summer have been
ties are restricting nones- occasional improvements are conducive to rainfall, shows areas of eastern Mas- relatively small, but it takes
sential outdoor water use. in areas since. In Auburn, there's more of it in short sachusetts outside Cape a lot of time and effort to
Fire departments are com- Maine, local firefighters bursts. Cod and much of southern extinguish them because
batting more brush fires helped a dairy farmer fill Mann said there's evidence and eastern Rhode Island they are burning into the
and crops are growing a water tank for his cows shown by his research at now in extreme, instead of dry ground, Arnold said.
poorly. when his well went too low Penn State University that severe, drought. Hay farmer Milan Adams
Providence, Rhode Island in late July and tempera- climate change is lead- New England has expe- said one of the fields he's till-
had less than half an inch tures hit 90. About 50 dry ing to a "stuck jet stream" rienced severe summer ing in Exeter, Rhode Island,
of rainfall in the third driest wells have been reported pattern. That means huge droughts before, but ex- is powder a foot down.
July on record, and Boston to the state since 2021, ac- meanders of the jet stream, perts say it is unusual to In prior years it rained in
had six-tenths of an inch cording to the state's dry or air current, get stuck in have droughts in fairly the spring. This year, he
in the fourth driest July on well survey. place, locking in extreme quick succession since said, the dryness started in
record, according to the The continuing trend to- weather events that can 2016. Massachusetts expe- March, and April was so dry
National Weather Service ward drier summers in the alternately be associated rienced droughts in 2016, he was nervous about his
office in Norton, Massachu- Northeast can certainly be with extreme heat and 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022, first cut of hay.q