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biblical terminology-a
curse.
not a blessing!
A Harvest of ·orought
and Despair
Prolonged drought and searing
heat slashed grain production in
many areas of North America–
the world's most important
breadbasket of exportable food.
Crops in sorne local areas of the
United States and Canada were
cut as much as 65 percent. Many
older farmers in both countries
felt 1980 was "the worst drought
year since the 1930s."
H
igh winds and erosion dam–
aged soils in many states. More
than 1.200 persons died in op–
pressive heat waves in the Ameri–
can Southwest and Midwest.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in
crops and livestock were lost.
At the same time, Europe suf–
fered just the opposite extreme in
weather. Record cold and deluges
of rain caused miserable living
conditions and widespread crop
damage.
Mexico's worst drought in a
general 30-year dry period inten–
sified during the year. T he nation
now has a serious water shortage
and crippled food production just
when more water and food is
needed to feed soaring population
growth.
In Brazil, a drought that in 1979
destroyed two thirds of crops in the
poverty-stricken northeast part of
the country, returned in 1980 with
even greater ferocity.
The whole of East Africa has
shriveled under great drought.
This devastation has been exacer–
bated by widespread warfare and
political unrest. "From the Red
Sea south ... is a disaster arca,"
says a United Nations official in
Nairobi. "No matter what we
do," he says, "millions will die."
T he worst drought in 100 years
crippled portions ofSouth Africa's
rich agr icultura! Natal Province.
Thousands of black tri besmen face
starvation. Zululand may become
a dust bowl. South African offi-
January
1981
DROUGHTS, FLOODS,
WEATHERDISASTERS
by
Donald D. Schroeder
The Bible reveals the almost totally forgotten reasons for
cafamitous weather and disasters in food production!
cials are worried about the impact.
South Africa is southern Africa's
breadbasket; it exports much food,
especially maize, to nearby food–
short nations.
During 1979, the monsoon
failed in India. Falling crop pro–
duction in 1980 nearly wiped out
20 million tons of food reserves.
T hen the 1980 monsoon carne
like a deluge in many areas, pro–
ducing rampaging floods and
death.
Australia suffered extensive
drought, with sizable crop and
livestock losses in sorne areas. But
the most critica! agr icultura! ar–
eas were delivered by rains in
mid-year. Other areas around the
world were also mercifully re–
lieved from devastating weather.
Why did these disasters hap–
pen? Why were some areas re–
lieved? Most humans don't
know.
Weathermens ' Explanatíons
Meteorologists-men and women
trained in weather science-offer
different reasons for weather ca–
lamities.
The meteorological forces
causing much of the miserable
weather in the northern hemi–
sphere during the year can be
dcscribed.
lt
was the result of a
series of prevailing strong high
pressure systems over a quarter of
the globe.
For weeks on
~nd
these high
pressure systems locked huge air
masses in holding zones, com–
pressing them, causing them to
heat up to scorching tempera–
tures. This heated air absorbed
moisture with in locked-in zones
that otherwise should have been
converted into clouds and rainfall.
The high pressure zones also
blocked and shunted aside any
moisture-bearing air that normal–
ly would have moved in.
Over North America, this sink–
ing super-heated air fanned out
and burned much of the Ameri–
can southwest and nor thern Great
Plains. Similar problems plagued
the great wheat provinces of Can-
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