January 3, 2018
By Dan Mika
The ongoing cold snap (click here) is causing problems for the county’s farmers as they try to bring animals to market and could leave farm soil compacted before planting season.
By Dan Mika
The ongoing cold snap (click here) is causing problems for the county’s farmers as they try to bring animals to market and could leave farm soil compacted before planting season.
The frost depth, or the depth of the soil below freezing, reached a full foot at the National Weather Service’s frost depth measuring station in Marshalltown Wednesday morning. Frost depth was measured at 10 inches just north of Des Moines.
Dennis Todey, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Midwest Climate Hub, said the lack of snow cover and drought conditions in the second half of 2017 allowed the soil to freeze over faster.
Todey said the frost isn’t a major concern for crop producers since the ground will thaw out by the time planting season begins, but it could freeze shallow water pipes (Irrigation systems could be lost). If the cold temperatures persist, he said it could get deeper into the ground and reach deeper pipes and cause damage,
“I don’t think there was too much of a problem in Iowa, but the further north you went into Minnesota and the Dakotas, we had some cities that were starting to have some water lines freezing because the cold was getting deep enough to freeze water lines,” he said....
Some farmers manage to grow enough corn for their herds. Corn is not the only food beef cows eat, but, it contains energy and would be added to the feed in the bitter cold.
Corn Price Commodity today is $3.53 per bushel. (click here) Farmers have a difficult time with their products and the costs to maintain them when the temperatures are this low.
...ISU Extension beef specialist Joe Sellers said many of the state’s cattlemen are giving their cattle more feed with higher energy densities to help them generate the heat they lose to the cold. He said most producers are set up to protect their cattle from the elements, but they might need to restock on feed if the cold weather stays....
West Virginia Mountains
I recently traveled Route 77, a somewhat dangerous road for the mountains and tractor trailers that require it. I passed through two tunnels there and saw the same phenomena in each.
At the ends of the tunnels, the entrance and exit, there was water drainage pipes frozen solid. Those drainage pipes carry water runoff from the mountain itself to drainage below the road, so the road doesn't flood.
In the center of the mountain tunnel there were no frozen pipes. I assumed they were working well because the cold didn't reach into the ground that deep. It is prudent for every state to be aw...
Sorry, had to take a call.
prudent for every state to be assessing the condition of their roads, bridges and tunnels in relation to water and freezing.
Water is necessary for life, but, right now the condition of water in relation to Earth has changed. There are droughts in one place while at the same time there are floods in another. The place where water is and isn't is very important. But, it is the PROPERTIES of water that is most important when it comes to infrastructure and freezing.
Water runs according to gravity. So, it will SEEP into places, especially in mountains, that defies the imagination. When water seeps into areas either in tiny amounts or large amounts and is then exposed to cold and extremely cold temperatures it will freeze. Water expands when it freezes.
So when water is running off a mountain and an engineer at some point in the past (before the polar vortex displaced) arranged for safe drainage of that mountain water, all was well. Even in the winter there were not issues that we face today. Today, prolonged frigid temperatures and deep temperatures in the the range of NEGATIVE Fahrenheit (realizing freezing for Fahrenheit is 32 degrees) there will be structural problems NO MATTER WHERE there is water seepage.
Water will break rock. Just that simple. In the natural world where cars and trucks travel engineers do an excellent job of building good sturdy infrastructure, but, with the level of climate change we are experiencing now, where temperatures from the north pole visit the lower 48, there is just no way of knowing exactly how this shakes out.
The farmers have a handle on their property and how best to protect their livelihood, but, engineers were not prepared for such drastic and rapid changes in climate. So, it is my suggestion, cities and states take a good look at their infrastructure and put their engineers to work to ESTIMATE where trouble could start. At this point tunnels have to be inspected at the very least where water that should be running is not and appears as frozen. There could be insidious damage done that will perpetuate more and larger infrastructure failure.
If possible (and with taxes and funding going to hell, who knows?) hire more geologists and/or engineers AND have Senators and House Reps. write into the budget for project funding by the US Army Corp. to assist the states with this (I consider it an emergency) priority.
It is unfortunate the Blue States were targeted by the Republican Tax Strategy. They have a lot of people to provide infrastructure for and they need every break they can get. So, with complete empathy for every citizen in the country, EVERYONE WAS TOLD and now we have to face the music of calling the climate crisis a hoax.
One other thing. Many US Army Corp are assisting Puerto Rico. I think the Governors and Mayors need to look to hiring their own geologists and engineers OR several cities in the same region can form a group to share the skills of new hires WITH EXPERIENCE in knowledge about water and the damage it can do. Don't leave out the possibility of spring floods that become ICE DAMS and increase the flood level all that much more. THEY HAVE TO HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF HYDROLOGY.
WATER IS FLUID.
FLUID MECHANICS and volume and the power of water.
Some farmers manage to grow enough corn for their herds. Corn is not the only food beef cows eat, but, it contains energy and would be added to the feed in the bitter cold.
Corn Price Commodity today is $3.53 per bushel. (click here) Farmers have a difficult time with their products and the costs to maintain them when the temperatures are this low.
...ISU Extension beef specialist Joe Sellers said many of the state’s cattlemen are giving their cattle more feed with higher energy densities to help them generate the heat they lose to the cold. He said most producers are set up to protect their cattle from the elements, but they might need to restock on feed if the cold weather stays....
West Virginia Mountains
I recently traveled Route 77, a somewhat dangerous road for the mountains and tractor trailers that require it. I passed through two tunnels there and saw the same phenomena in each.
At the ends of the tunnels, the entrance and exit, there was water drainage pipes frozen solid. Those drainage pipes carry water runoff from the mountain itself to drainage below the road, so the road doesn't flood.
In the center of the mountain tunnel there were no frozen pipes. I assumed they were working well because the cold didn't reach into the ground that deep. It is prudent for every state to be aw...
Sorry, had to take a call.
prudent for every state to be assessing the condition of their roads, bridges and tunnels in relation to water and freezing.
Water is necessary for life, but, right now the condition of water in relation to Earth has changed. There are droughts in one place while at the same time there are floods in another. The place where water is and isn't is very important. But, it is the PROPERTIES of water that is most important when it comes to infrastructure and freezing.
Water runs according to gravity. So, it will SEEP into places, especially in mountains, that defies the imagination. When water seeps into areas either in tiny amounts or large amounts and is then exposed to cold and extremely cold temperatures it will freeze. Water expands when it freezes.
So when water is running off a mountain and an engineer at some point in the past (before the polar vortex displaced) arranged for safe drainage of that mountain water, all was well. Even in the winter there were not issues that we face today. Today, prolonged frigid temperatures and deep temperatures in the the range of NEGATIVE Fahrenheit (realizing freezing for Fahrenheit is 32 degrees) there will be structural problems NO MATTER WHERE there is water seepage.
Water will break rock. Just that simple. In the natural world where cars and trucks travel engineers do an excellent job of building good sturdy infrastructure, but, with the level of climate change we are experiencing now, where temperatures from the north pole visit the lower 48, there is just no way of knowing exactly how this shakes out.
The farmers have a handle on their property and how best to protect their livelihood, but, engineers were not prepared for such drastic and rapid changes in climate. So, it is my suggestion, cities and states take a good look at their infrastructure and put their engineers to work to ESTIMATE where trouble could start. At this point tunnels have to be inspected at the very least where water that should be running is not and appears as frozen. There could be insidious damage done that will perpetuate more and larger infrastructure failure.
If possible (and with taxes and funding going to hell, who knows?) hire more geologists and/or engineers AND have Senators and House Reps. write into the budget for project funding by the US Army Corp. to assist the states with this (I consider it an emergency) priority.
It is unfortunate the Blue States were targeted by the Republican Tax Strategy. They have a lot of people to provide infrastructure for and they need every break they can get. So, with complete empathy for every citizen in the country, EVERYONE WAS TOLD and now we have to face the music of calling the climate crisis a hoax.
One other thing. Many US Army Corp are assisting Puerto Rico. I think the Governors and Mayors need to look to hiring their own geologists and engineers OR several cities in the same region can form a group to share the skills of new hires WITH EXPERIENCE in knowledge about water and the damage it can do. Don't leave out the possibility of spring floods that become ICE DAMS and increase the flood level all that much more. THEY HAVE TO HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF HYDROLOGY.
WATER IS FLUID.
FLUID MECHANICS and volume and the power of water.
