The Drought of 2007....

The National Weather service classifies drought areas with the following classifications: Abnormally Dry, Moderate, Severe, Extreme and Exceptional. Southern Ohio in the Cincinnati area has been classified as Severe all year. Following is an exert from the National Weather Service:

FOR CINCINNATI...DAYTON AND COLUMBUS...THE RAINFALL IS AS FOLLOWS:

STATION ...................................SINCE JAN 1............................INCHES BELOW NORMAL
CINCINNATI ...............................19.06.....................................................12.22
DAYTON ......................................28.96 ....................................................0.01
COLUMBUS ................................28.24 ....................................................0.20

STATION ...................................SINCE MAY 1 ..............................INCHES BELOW NORMAL
CINCINNATI ..................................5.49.............................................................12.26
DAYTON .......................................13.97 .............................................................2.79
COLUMBUS ................................12.95 .............................................................4.62

RAINFALL DEFICITS IN THE EXTREME DROUGHT AREA IS AS MUCH AS 12 TO 16
INCHES BELOW NORMAL FOR THE YEAR...WITH MOST LOCATIONS GENERALLY 8
TO 12 INCHES BELOW NORMAL FOR THE YEAR. EVEN IF NORMAL RAINFALL
WERE TO OCCUR FROM NOW THROUGH THE END OF 2007...THE CINCINNATI
AREA WILL LIKELY FINISH WITHIN THE TOP TEN DRIEST YEARS ON RECORD.

We have lived here since 2001 and we are normally unable to mow our entire yard until end of May because there is so much water sitting in the yard from the rain. But, this year there has not been one time that we could not mow the entire yard.

Also, our pond is 4 foot down. We have never seen the pond more than 1 foot low and that is usually in August. Following are some pictures of our pond.

By the way my pond is 25 foot in the deepest part so, it would be a long time before it went dry.

This area is usually about midway on the top board of the deck.

That back edge is where the water usually is.

The water at it's lowest in the past has been to the bottom of the front
play on the deck. That would be about 1 foot down.

This dirt is usually 4 foot under water.

We also went to see East Fork Lake yesterday to see the phenomenon of islands where we have never seen islands before. I grew up around here and do not remember ever seeing the lake this way. (unless it happened while I was away) Following are some pictures of what we saw.

This is dirt that was at one point completely covered with water.

You can now walk all the way around the lake.
Usually you cannot because the water goes up to the trees.

We have kayaked up into this cove before and
it is usually completely covered with water.

We have kayaked up into this cove before also.

If you look real close you can see the turkey that we saw.

This is the main place that we would put in our kayaks.
I do not believe it would be very easy to put in here now.

This is what we call beaver island and all the
stumps you see sticking up are usually barely seen out of the water.

If you blow this picture up you can see the tree laying over
near the back of the picture. We frequently kayaked
up this cove to see the big fish move around and we
would kayak all the way to the tree that was laying over.
We kayak under the tree that is leaning but, not all the way down.

Even if we get normal rainfall for the rest of 2007 we would still end 2007 as one of the top ten dryest years on record according to the National Weather Service.

I have also been told several times that we should expect a winter like the Blizzard of 1977.