In my last post I responded to comments about the Rio Grande running low that in the 60s, 70s into the early 80s, the Rio Grande would dry up in the summer months. The current headlines read “Rio Grande runs dry in Albuquerque for the first time in 40 years“. The water is running low, but it is still running through Corrales. Other people have asked when will the drought end? Based on historical trends, I’m guessing we will be under drought conditions for another seven years or longer. I put together the page below that shows historic trends in annual precipitation and the Palmer Drought Severity Index. Note the Storage levels in Elephant but follow the drought index. There was a very severe drought in the 1950s. We might reach that level of severity over the next several years. While the current conditions are alarming, they are not unprecedented. Another article you might be interested in is “5 droughts that changed human history” on the World Economic Forum website.
Climate is always changing, and those changes in warming and cooling and flooding and drought run in various cycles from a few years to thousands of years to tens of thousands of years. I remember a person mentioning to me that the goal of the current fight against climate change was to get the earth to have a constant temperature of 70º F (21º C). All I had to say is that if the climate warriors who apparently believe they have God-like powers actually reach that goal, the earth will be dead. I don’t know how common the idea that the war on climate change is to stop the climate from changing in an attempt to establish a constant temperature, but just that fact that someone actually believed it I found quite frightening.
On the Rio Grande this afternoon looking north from Beaver Point.
On the Rio Grande this afternoon look south from Beaver Point.
Stormclouds all around
The Drought
By Timothy Price
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Scorched earth cracked white clay
Fried in dryness, woe
Drought sucks life’s blood away
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Thirsty plants bow their heads
Pray for rain, the watershed
Parched seeds cry die of thirst
How have we earned this curse?
Sun shines happiness
We frolic in deceptive rays
Encourages us to foolish ways
Water’s precious, so we say
But we waste it anyway
In denial as it dwindles
Less and less from day to day to day
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where once water flowed clear and cold
Green slime clings to mud
The water’s foul, so the waterfowl
Fly off in search of some
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Where did all the water go?
Off Center & Not Even 
How true. Climate is always changing. Sure, we humans might have pushed it faster with all our crap, but I believe it would have happened anyway. So weird I a reading a book “I Am a Girl From Africa” and it starts with a drought that goes on for years..
Hope you all don’t suffer too badly!
Those clouds are splendiferous. Now spill your rain!
Droughts and plagues have shaped our cultures more than we know. Thanks, Dale.
This is true. Have a great day, Tim!
Climate on Earth is something so complex. You have constant freezing temps at the poles and you have constant summer temps in other parts of Earth. Sure, to have a costant 21° , I suppose they’re talking about the overall temperature. I don’t know a thing about temperatures lol. But I do know it’s cooler underneath a tree than around buildings and cars. I know that people throw their trash EVERYWHERE and during lockdown, the sky was so much clearer- thanks to the reduced traffick both on the ground and in the air. I know as much, that we humans contribute a lot to climate change. We’ve got to learn to be more responsible. Sure, climate has always changed on earth. We had ice ages and summers. But… We can’t overlook and ignore our own influence on this current change. Some rain would be really nice…
It’s much too complitated for the simple-minded policymakers, that’s for sure. Thanks, Inner Musings.
Great song, Tim! Love your guitars.
Here’s to the return of the water!
It’s true, climate is always changing.
Constant temperature?!!!! That sounds horrible! What’s wrong with people? [rhetoric question!]
Thanks, Marina.
We’re facing the same problems over here. The last years all the rivers show very low water levels during the summer months. It really looks very scary when looking into the future…
Thank goodness there was a good song in this post to compensate the bad prognosis…
Thanks, Herman. It’s a bad state we live in.
May i say I could NOT agree more with your post. The world is now populated by gods who can control everything. But me this present agenda is nutz. There’s all sorts going in with farmers in bits of Europe that the mainstream media are not covering and it is all to do with carbon etc and basically trying to get rid of farming. But your post for me is very reasoned and let’s face it you have lived there for a long time. I don’t doubt the climate is changing, I look back on the kidsn of winters we had as kids BUT , then we did not have the amount of cars and gas vents getting rid of the frost. But also, throughout its entire existence this planet has changed. If you take one of the earliest records of the planet??? Well, for me, that is the bible in a way..not cos I am holy, i am an atheist, but look at the things talked about there weatherwise.
As I mentioned to abvr, there is rare clear thinking in the crises mongering of politicians and media who use the crisis for their own political gains and power grabs.
It’s disgusting Timothy, Follow the money i say.
I think that the semi-clause (climate change), is being used by everyone for their own agenda including those who deny that there is a dramatic difference in the rainfals, the droughts and the shifting ice.
The green narrative gave rise to awareness, around the railing of nuclear waste, polluted rivers, air pollution, deforestation and climate change. But of course the force of confusion will do everything to roll back the gains.
The politicos and media turn everything into a crises for their own gains. There is rarely clear thinking and almost never good policies or laws made to work issues out reasonably. Sri Lanka’s collapse is a perfect example of how irresponsible actions of forcing green laws and zero carbon policies on people who did not have the means to produce under the burdens of the green agenda.
That is one side. But let me catch up at a later date on the crisis in Sri Lanka. I’m not clued up in the least in how the green policies drove the country into the abyss.
It appears THEY are doing this with nitrogen rich fertilizers also. The Netherlands, and now Canada, are demanding 30% reductions. These huge food producers are being put out of business and hence more food shortages and increasing famines. These are not transitions or transformations; these actions are a controlled collapse of economies worldwide.
Absolutely. It’s nuts.
Oh and BTW, beautiful photos of rain-teasing clouds. 🙂
You got that right, also. Rain teasing clouds, that is. Thanks, Mary Jo.
I remember back in the sixties and seventies much conversation about ‘War for Water’…! We ae waking to a world that was predicted back then….Fabulous photographs…:)
Fothutantely, technology has precluded water wars, and made water available were it shouldn’t have been made available. But the politicos find other things to war over. Thanks, Janet.
Thank you Timothy:)
Interesting info Timothy… thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Rudi.
I read your informative discussion with a great deal of interest. As Inner Musings notes, climate on Earth is very complex.
Climate is much more complex than the politcos and media can fathom. There view is so simplistic. Thanks, Liz.
You’re welcome, Tim. I don’t know how anyone would think the climate isn’t complex, with so many factors and variables involved. (The same holds true for social problems, but I won’t go there.)
Your pictures and your poem, Timothy, give me goose-pimples and I am very aware that my life has been changed by the temperatures we have now!
Thanks, Martina.
Interesting info… thank you for those graphs.
The clouds you share are spectacular!
You are welcome, Nancy. Thanks, for dropping by.
Those river and sky photos are beautiful, Tim!
We have had a reprieve this year, with July being greener than usual going into the annual summer drought.
Thanks, Lavinia.
So true Tim.. ” All I had to say is that if the climate warriors who apparently believe they have God-like powers actually reach that goal, the earth will be dead.”
It’s like those who want our climate to be zero Co2….. if they did all plant life would be dead…
Temps if one really looks into the history through the Ice core samples taken show that it has risen higher then dropped to lower ice-age like temperatures throughout thousands of years..
Governments would have us believe we are responsible, while raising taxes to say its to save the Planet and Go Green…
Yes our existence and ways of living in polluting our planet most certainly has contributed to conditions. But we are not the total cause..
Loved your poem/lyrics/Song… And judging by all the rain received in Australia this year,, You could say it went down under!…..
Rain/ Water is always in the atmosphere somewhere…. It evaporates and falls somewhere or other.. Just with todays technology its not always being guided to fall where we want it to…
Great Cloud formations Tim.. 🙂
Thanks, Sue. All so true. Water vapor is the greatest of the greenhouse gasses. People don’t realize that.
Exactly!….. We are a water planet… 😉
“Where did all the water go?” It sounds like a 60s protest song.
But, consider the headwaters of the Rio Grande and the Colorado are in Colorado. The past few winters, dating back to around 2010, perhaps earlier, have not produced the water volume from the winter runoff. Yet, at the same time, the demand on water resources have grown significantly. How fast has ABQ grown the past 5-10 years? The Colorado Front Range, from Ft Collins to COS, has exploded with new home development in the last 5-7 years. Who are buying these homes starting in the 400s? They can’t all have good paying jobs to afford the mortgage payments. When the subdivision caught on fire on NYE (12-31-2021), outside of Boulder, I shed no tears for them. Why? They were living on land where no one lived there before. Plus, it was overdue for a catastrophic fire. Most of the Colorado Front Range is tinder dry. If a mega-fire was to start …
This past spring, it was more windy than it was ever before. We usually have about 3-4 weeks of fairly strong winds. But, when it lasts from early January into May, you know we’re in an unusal occurence. Weather records in Colorado date back to the 1860s. If similar occurrence cannot be found in those records, then we may be in a long cycle. One of the reasons the ancient peoples retreated from Mesa Verde to Chaco Canyon, and elsewhere, was they experienced a mega-drought. This mega-drought can be found in the geologic record. Are we in another mega-drought? May be. What we are finding out is that Lake Mead was a major mob dumping ground. Good chance Lake Powell is another one too.
Can go on forever, but I doubt WP has the bandwidth to handle each item.
I’m protesting poor water management. Population growth is a major issue. Back in the 70s and 80s when the Rio Grande dried up, the drainage ditches still had water, because the Albuguerque metro area was not pumping the aquifer as heavily as it is now. The flow of the river effects the water table a lot these days. Last year the Clearwater ditch dried up when the river was low because the Conservancy tore out all the beaver dams. They have left the beaver dams so far this year, so the Clearwater ditch still has water. The drainage ditch 1500 feet west of us hasn’t had water in it in years because of the drop in the water table. We could be in a mega drought. Thanks, David.
thanks for this chart and explanations Tim. It seems to me we are always in a drought now sadly. I love your poem and gorgeous pictures.
It’s so sad. I’ve gotten some fake plants for the upcoming wedding and outdoor rugs for the brown “lawn”. I’ve grown accustomed to the new normal but sure don’t like it!
💖💖
Thanks, Cindy.
💖🌹
I always enjoy listening to you play the bass. Excellent post, Tim. Very informative.
Thanks, Jeff.
Welcome, Tim.
I find most of the claims and pontification on climate crisis to be BS at best. The amount of data lies I’ve had to sift through is quite frustrating especially the ones who set the date range of the study to support their bias – always be skeptical when they set a bizarre duration. I always remind myself when my weather app is wrong from the day before and they think they can predict 12 or more years out. I’ll get off my soapbox now. What am good at is predicting that it will rain on any race day I enter ha!
Or be cloudy when there is an astronomical event to be photographed. I hear you on all of it. A lot of BS and a lot of data manipulation to fit the scenario. Thanks, Brian.
Agreed. Terrific photographs.
Thanks, needham.
You are absolutely correct, Timothy! The climate change hysterics want to achieve something that is impossible. We cannot control the weather or climate, no matter how many wind turbines we build or solar panels we install. Most climate activists have never studied science, they just repeat the propaganda they hear. In my opinion, these people cannot deal with life in general and try to control the circumstances in their lives as a result. They are unable to adapt.
Very well articulated, Dawn. A just think that these people make policy decisions and laws.
Great song, by the way!
Thanks, Dawn.
Fascinating input on climate change, very good points you made! And stunning photos!
Thanks, Samantha. There is som much propaganda out there.
Bootiful and sad at the same time. I love the Drought!
This morning I read of our Grantham Canal, so low now that fish are dying. Sad! They intend to try to net some and move them to deeper water.
Cool song, Tim!
I thought we were worried about climate change, not climate constant?
Some people interpret the whole climate change scenario as stopping climate change and making the earth have a constant mild temperature. A lot of people have no clue about the real issues.
I agree… and that goes for more than climate change!