Let go already

Drought grips north Alabama

It's getting pretty bad -- only an inch of rain in Birmingham in March, when normally you'd get over five inches. The effect it's having on most people is that we're constantly sneezing. Apparently, plants let out more pollen during a drought, and there's no rain to get rid of it. I don't normally have pollen allergies (my problems are with manmade pollutants) but I've been sneezing more than normal.

Spring has been cancelled

We are going directly to summer. It is 87 degrees outside at solar noon. On March 24.

Authoritative

TVA says drought tops 117-year record

The driest winter in the Tennessee Valley since record-keeping began, says the Tennessee Valley Authority. It wasn't as bad in the Birmingham area, only the driest January and February since 1986.

Anyway, this is a big problem because it reduces the amount of electricity TVA dams can generate by half.

Abnormally dry

Alabama needs rain

Down 9.4 inches from normal since November. The last four months have all been below average and March is if anything even worse. If there were such a thing as global warming we'd really be in trouble.