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Sunday, July 24, 2011

DROUGHTS, FIRES AND FLOODS

The Burning Season in Acre
The Burning Season in Acre -- photo by Lou Gold

At the mid-point of the dry season, with the rivers low, the forest dry, and about 3 more months until the rains return, the fire season is upon us. Nowadays, in addition to burning to clear agricultural land, something is appearing previously unknown in a rainforest -- natural fires set by lightning from the scattered thunderstorms that occur during the dry season.

It's a worldwide phenomenon recently brought to the USA in massive heat wave across the the Eastern half of the country (with the flood waters still not completely receded in the Midwest).

The short story is that the climate scientists say, "Get used to it."

The global details are scary. Joe Romm has an excellent report called, 500 Days of Summer.

The trend toward increasing extreme weather events is much the same in Brazil as elsewhere. As drought arrives in the Amazon Basin, heavy rains and flooding are appearing in other regions.

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