The incessant drought has hit the sector

Winter is in its final stages in North America. Yet in the west of the continent, where drought needs some relief, drought continues to develop.

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This year, several wildfires broke out in the western United States. Some of them burned for weeks and eventually had them through emergency services. New fires were also reported in these areas during the months of December and January.

Of a manager California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection It reported last January that these events were becoming more common: “10 to 15 years ago we called it the California Firewall, where we could have fires, in July, that is, until September or October. It’s only been a few months. Now our fires continue until December, and then until January.

Since January 2022, more than 90,000 hectares have been burned in Texas, more than twice the area that Quebec loses each year due to forest fires.

Crying for lack of water

In addition, according to US Drought Monitor data, about 95.7% of the state of Texas is unusually dry. Also, just over 40% of the people in the state are experiencing severe drought or high status. This is especially true for California, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

But according to United States Oceanic and Atmospheric Observation AgencyThere has been an unusually severe drought in the western regions since the summer of 2020, which spread south and lower into the plains and into the Mississippi Valley.

To make matters worse: All these southwestern US states are currently experiencing a rainless spring. Significant anomalies have been identified in Texas and Colorado.

Elsewhere in the East and forthcoming

Meanwhile, to the east of the continent, a completely opposite scenario ends. Over the past few months, a number of systems with liberal precipitation have sprung up in the southeastern United States and ended their course in Quebec.

In the summer of 2022, it is still too early to predict the situation. But now with the spring drying up in the west, the drought finally seems to be receding.

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