Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Drought Along U.S. Highway 80


Though there were rain clouds ahead, this photo of U.S. Highway 80 west of Selma is a good representation of the current severe drought. Patches of green appear here and there, but notice the fields on both sides of the road. They are yellow/brown when they should be green. This picture was taken Sunday through the windshield of our truck just east of Marion Junction.

9 comments:

Irina said...

Does every state have its own US80? Because the highway 80 which I knew well was in Iowa and connected Des Moines and Davenport.

And thank you for repeating visits to my blog!

marie6 said...

Wow, what a large expanse of land, nice to have all that countryside. Shame it's all dry now, bet it's beautiful in winter.

Mandi said...

Yes it looks very dry. Reminds me of Africa.

Janet said...

Irina, I don't think every state has a U.S. 80, but this one stretches (or used to stretch) all the way from Tybee Island, Ga., to the Pacific Ocean in California. Today, it is "broken up" by interstates where you suddenly get off Highway 80 and onto I-20 or some other road. In Alabama, Highway 80 crosses the entire state through the Black Belt region. There is talk of turning it into an interstate extension from Montgomery to the Mississippi line. If so, it will be years and years away.

Janet said...

Marie 6 and Mandi, thanks for visiting. Highway 80 runs through the middle of the Black Belt, an area of heavy clay soil once covered by a sea. It was prime cotton land at one time and now is used to produce cattle and catfish. The pastures on each side in the photo have been cut,but without rain, there won't be anymore grass or hay. Normally, we receive more than 50 inches of precipitation annually but are 15 to 20 inches below normal. Guess that is why it looks so much like an African savanna!

Karlis Beinerts said...

I'd love to ride a bike on such highway!

isa said...

I wish we could equalize the weather patterns! Some parts of the country are in a severe drought, some are dangerously flooded...

Unknown said...

And there are people out there who still deny global warming is occuring. There was several inches of snow on Saturday in a village north of me. This is the arctic but there is no way there should be SNOW this time of the year up here!

Victoria said...

If I could give you all some of our rain, I'd be more than happy to. That does look bad, and so early in the summer too!