During the 1980’s something unusual was happening as climate change continued to produce unprecedented devastation in the nation known for its “salubrity of climate” (Abraham Lincoln). In 1983 unusual amounts of rainfall inundated the lower Mississippi Valley. Parts of Utah and Colorado were flooded as a result of quick thaws of winter snow plus heavy rains. Severe storms and high tides lashed the California coastline. An unusually late spring freeze resulted in much loss of fruit crops in Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Arkansas. In the Midwest, crop planting was delayed due to excessive amounts of rainfall.

In 1986 a severe drought hit the southeastern U.S. which forced many farmers to leave the profession. At the same time the Midwestern states received unusually high amounts of rainfall, resulting in greater than usual grain production. This was followed by flooding.

From 1987-1993 California suffered severe drought conditions across much of the state, placing pressure on water reserves. Then came the Great Flood which, in 1993, caused the Mississippi River to carry  precious topsoil from nine central states into the Gulf of Mexico, leaving in its place up to eight feet of sand.

During the 1990’s the lower Colorado Basin suffered four years of severe drought. In the middle of the Colorado Basin record-level flooding arrived in late December, 1991 and again in June, 1997 which flooded a 100-mile front stretching from San Antonio to Austin. Texas was hit especially hard during the 1990’s. Record floods in ’91 were followed by record drought in ’96, which was followed by flooding in ’97.  The ’96 drought cost Texas $5 billion in crop and cattle losses.

Record flooding in 1997 was not restricted to the the lower Colorado Basin. Over the next four years heavy rain and snow accumulation flooded North Dakota, causing the U.S. Weather Service to state that the Red River had “never before behaved in this manner.” To the south, Fargo was hit with the worst flooding in 100 years, causing the Red River to approach a 500-year flood stage. This prompted the World Service Energy Response Office to declare: “The upper Midwest, already experiencing some of the worst weather on record in the region, faces renewed flooding after a powerful spring blizzard dumped additional snowfall on Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota …. Weather … since February has been marked by flooding, severe winter storms, high winds, heavy spring rain, rapid snow melt and ice jams.” More reports of devastation caused by excessive spring rain and snow melt followed in the report that matched the effects noted over the previous years so I will not go into them. As summer approached each year another of nature’s beasts raised its head–tornadoes.

In March of 1997 a series of tornadoes sliced a 260-mile path of havoc from southwest Arkansas to its northeastern corner, killing 25 people. In one day the state was hit by 26 twisters–more than the entire previous year. The same storm system resulted in 19 deaths in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas and Mississippi while unloading record-breaking rains in Ohio and Kentucky. Since then Mother Nature has made her presence known with ever-increasing ferocity. Over the past 18 years weather patterns have set precedents throughout the United States.

Weatherwise, something strange is happening in this nation. In sociological circles the phenomenon is known as Cause and Effect. In Eastern nations it is called karma. In everyday English it is expressed in these ways: “What goes around, comes around,” and “You pack your own parachute.” God provides His explanation in Proverbs 26:2: “The curse causeless does not come,” and in Hosea 8:7: “They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” To be continued. L.J.