A Nation Divided by its Weather Woes

N E W  Y O R K, Aug. 17, 2000 -- Forget revenue sharing. What America needs thissummer is weather sharing.

While fires devour Western forests at a record pace, and theSouth endures devastating drought and deadly heat waves, theNortheast muddles through one of the coolest, soggiest summers inmemory.

Fourteen inches of rain fell on a New Jersey township in ahalf-day last weekend. In the parched West, more than 80 majorwildfires rage across 13 states; the summer-long inferno has killedeight firefighters and burned more than 4.5 million acres of forestand rangeland.

A Country of Extremes

New York City had its coolest July since 1914, whiletriple-digit heat has killed scores of people in Texas and the DeepSouth. Large sections of the Southeast are beset by a prolongeddrought, projected to be the costliest ever for Georgia farmers.

“We do live in an interesting place,” said Jim Laver, deputydirector of the National Weather Service’s Climate PredictionCenter. “The U.S. covers enough longitude, enough time zones, ithas some of the most unusual and severe weather types of anywherein the world.”

Some of the extremes were anticipated, to a degree.Meteorologists had predicted another in a series of dry summers inthe South as a spinoff from La Nina, the pool of unusually coolwater that has dominated the Pacific Ocean for more than two years.

But Laver said the Northeast’s sustained, cool dreariness — oneyear after severe drought afflicted the region — is more puzzling.

“We talk about it every day, asking why this is happening,” hesaid. “We’ll figure it out eventually.”

Tourism in Northeast Suffering

Some Northeasterners don’t mind. Big-city commuters can jostletheir way through August rush hours without breaking a sweat.Tanning-salon owners have savored the cloud cover.

“Eight straight days with no sun will do it,” said JamesYoung, general manager of Sun Capsule salon in South Windsor, Conn.“People need their sun.”

But tourism throughout New England has suffered. Business isdown at water parks, at kayak-rental shops and on the beaches ofCape Cod, New Hampshire and Maine.

New York City’s average monthly temperature in July was 72.3degrees, the fourth-coolest on record. Both Boston and New Yorkwent through July without the temperature reaching 90.

Mike Jackson, a National Weather Service meteorologist inTaunton, Mass., said the cool, wet weather is likely to persist.

“Thank God it isn’t winter because an awful lot of people wouldprobably be under a foot of snow,” he said.

Drought: ‘The Forgotten Disaster’

What a contrast with Georgia, suffering its third straightsummer of severe drought, with rainfall since May 1998 at least 20inches below normal. Homeowners have been ordered to curtail lawnwatering. The loss to farmers, including higher irrigation costsand ravaged crops, is projected at $740 million.

Most summers, thousands of Atlantans escape to Lake Lanier onweekends. This year, the lake is down nine feet and many beachesand coves have been closed.

Parts of Alabama are equally parched — Henry County’s rainfalldeficit for this year is 24 inches. In Tuscaloosa County, welfareofficials blame a lingering heat wave for an upsurge in abuse andneglect cases, and used-car salesman Pat Thompson said customersare reluctant to venture onto his lot’s steamy pavement.

Mark Svoboda of the National Drought Mitigation Center inLincoln, Neb., said the Southeast is experiencing “a real doozy ofa drought” that might be broken only by a spate of tropicalstorms.

“Drought is really the forgotten disaster,” he said. “Youdon’t see houses washed away. But when you add it up in the end, itcan have more economic loss than any natural disaster.”

Deadly Heat in Texas

In Texas, more than 40 people have died since May fromheat-related causes, and a state of disaster was declared for 195drought-stricken counties. Last week, seeking to ensure that Texansdon’t lose their air conditioning, the Public Service Commissionordered utility companies to keep residential customers’ power onall summer even if their payments are overdue.

In Dallas, baked by triple-digit heat for 25 straight days,landscaper Carlos Lopez hasn’t cut back his outdoor labors.

“Sometimes you get dizzy and don’t feel well,” he said. “Butwe drink a lot of water and sometimes we take breaks. … I needthe money.”

Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas and Montana also have suffered summerdrought, but much of the West is normally dry this season. Thewidespread wildfires, Laver suggested, are due to a combination offactors, including growth patterns in some of the forests andinstances of “dry lightning” — when an electrical storm triggersa fire without any accompanying rain.

“In an average year, 1.5 million acres of forest are burned,and we’re well over 4 million now,” Laver said. “That’s the puzzlement — why is so much more burning this year?”