Could Hurricanes Signal A New Dust Bowl?
Forecasters at the weather website www.accuweather.com are warning that the 2005 hurricane season could be part of a weather pattern that could bring Dust Bowl conditions back to the Great Plains. Prior to 2005, the most hurricanes in any year occurred in 1933, and the warm Atlantic temperatures that feed hurricanes also deprive the Plains states of rainfall by “weakening and changing the course of a low- level jet stream,” which normally brings moisture to the Plains from the Gulf of Mexico. When this jet stream is weakened, the bulk of that precipitation falls instead across northern Mexico, leaving the Plains states dry and hot. This is basically what happened in the 1930s, but it is too early to tell if the same pattern will play out in coming years. Meteorologists also point out that, “Today’s agricultural practices, such as crop rotation and improved irrigation, as well as drought-resistant hybrid crops, would likely prevent the landscape from being as ruined as it was during the
