Idaho Readies for a Hot and Dusty Summer

Some in the weather community don't consider the scorching June heat normal.  They say normal when they mean average.  However, a writer told me this week that he remembers working on air-conditioning units more than 20 years ago and dealing with a similar early heat wave.  June is a transition and unpredictable.  A couple of years ago I walked into Oasis and a clerk shared that she had only lived in Idaho for a few months.  She asked if June was always cold and rainy.  It was 45 degrees outside and spitting showers.

I try and keep my perspective whenever some tree-hugging granola gobbler screams man-made global warming.  Any look back throughout geological history shows prolonged droughts and hot weather, mixed with gloomy and cool periods.  Some droughts can last for a couple of hundred years.  Many average in the neighborhood of 30 years, which could mean we’re nearing the end of one cycle.

Rainfall has dropped in the region by a couple of inches per year since 1980.

With water restrictions in East Idaho, this summer could be nasty for growers across Idaho.  Prolonged heat will evaporate a lot of irrigation systems, but in the short term, it won’t have much of an impact.  Anybody in the farming business for more than five years knows the risks.  If you’re forbearers journaled, you’ll see they had some rough times.

I don’t think there’s much anyone can do, despite the alarmist warnings from the climate crowd.  People will ride this out, and/or adapt, as they have throughout history.

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