new lows

[ljgeoff]

Neven has a good graphic up on the Arctic Sea Ice Blog.

I'm trying to picture what it will be like when we have a worse year next year; hotter, drier/wetter and more crops failing. And another year. And another. I wonder how long we can keep going.

Lake Mead is below projections, currently at 1,116 ft, which is 113 ft below full pool of 1,229 ft. This is not it's lowest level; it's lowest level was in Oct of '10. It will be interesting to see what happens there over the next couple of months.

The Ogallala Aquifer had an annual rate of ground water decline of approximately 1.4 feet per year from 1969 to 1979 to just over 0.5 feet per year from 1989 to 1999. (report) Last year it declined 2.56 ft. -- the third largest single year decline that has been measured.

Here's the current drought picture of the US:


I'm hoping that with the coming El Nino, we'll have some relief. But I keep thinking of that .89 °C per decade estimate. I can't get my head around it.