Hot

and dry

August 10, 2011 (Wednesday)
We tend to believe that our weather these days is something new and different. Heat. Drought. Been here before. As King Solomon said, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV).
One reason, I think, for our belief that it’s hotter than ever is the fact that we have learned to live with air conditioning, something that was virtually unknown when we were growing up. That’s my guess. But I don’t know why we think that drought is something we haven’t seen before.
The “Dust Bowl” of the Thirties is legendary. Because of farming practices that made the soil more susceptible to being lifted into clouds of dust, the effects of drought were made even worse as those huge clouds of dust (today called “Habooms”) covered entire sections of the country.
There was a seven-year drought in Texas during the 1950’s. I remember that a dust storm made its way into Houston, and then 50 miles out into the Gulf of Mexico. I recall when the drought-breaking rains came in the spring of 1957, filling the rivers and lakes and making the world green again. And bringing floods to some.
The records show periods of hot, dry weather that qualify as droughts in every decade of our state’s history.
So, yes, it’s hot and dry. It’s awful. I complain as much as anyone. It does seem hotter than ever. But it’s happened before. And it will happen again. That’s just the way it is. As they say, “That’s life.”