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From 1946 to 1957 the Southwest suffered an extreme and long-lasting drought. The following appeared as a front page, headline story in the New York Times on December 6, 1956:. DROUGHT DAMAGE IN BILLIONS SCARS SOUTHWEST
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From 1946 to 1957 the Southwest suffered an extreme and long-lasting drought. The following appeared as a front page, headline story in the New York Times on December 6, 1956: • DROUGHT DAMAGE IN BILLIONS SCARS SOUTHWEST • President Eisenhower will find in projected mid-January air tour of the Southwest, farm and ranch lands that have been scarred by one of the worst droughts in the Nation’s history. • vast damage and billions of dollars of losses; bleak prospects for coming year… • “gougers” capitalizing on relief programs… • farmers are leaving the arid lands… • some farmers are borrowing money to meet a crisis beyond their ability to repay… • drinking water is so short in some places residents have had to haul it in jugs from other communities…… • Arizona: One farm agent said the drought had caused a “squeezing process resulting in fewer small ranches and farms and larger holdings” • New Mexico: 31 of the state’s 32 counties were designated disaster areas… In parts of eastern New Mexico the water table was so low that many wells were expected to run “completely dry”.
<85% of mean, > 10 years <85% of mean, > 8 years Average precipitation from 50 met stations in SW Swetnam & Betancourt. 1998. Journal of Climate 11:3128-3147.
Comparison of tree-ring widths and rain gauge records from New Mexico: The past 1,000 years of tree-ring growth in Arizona and New Mexico:
Tucson Las Cruces
