What problems are caused by a prolonged summer drought? Well, unless someone is adding water to the lakes, there is a definite drop in the water levels due to evaporation of the water.
Science TIP: There are three states of matter: Solid state, liquid state, and gas state. Evaporation is the changing of a liquid state into a gas state (or vapor). Everyone has seen steam rising from boiling water on your stove as the water changes from liquid to gas (into a vapor). Did you know that heat increases the process of evaporation, but water does not have to boil to evaporate? Evaporation occurs on even the coldest days.
The water in a pond or lake evaporates constantly and the water level can drop an inch or more per day depending on the temperature. Normally, ponds and lakes are supplied with the rain water runoff from the surrounding areas. Some small ponds are supplemented by man-made wells or artesian wells (water flowing from underground aquifer which does not have to be pumped, but springs forth on its own). If the pond or lake is not supplemented during a drought, the drop in the water level can be drastic. Even the recent three rains in this area have not restored the water level to normal. Boats that were floating in June are now high and dry at the end of September. The dock that is normally 2 to 3 feet above the water is also out of the water.
Note: This dock was rebuilt in 2004. The rotted post you see in the pictures above are from the original dock. It does appear that the posts placed in 2004 are holding up and the dock still looks safe. Hopefully, this area in Louisiana will receive some rain soon.
BEES are also affected by a drought: The bees are also still feeling the effects of the drought. Below are videos (in slow motion and real time) of bumble bees, honey bees, and wasp enjoying the nectar we provided. Note: you can clearly see that all of these are insects because you can easily identify the six legs as the land. What other “insect characteristics” can you identify?
Now watch and listen to the real time video below.
Drought and Evaporation affect all areas of the world (not just Louisiana and Mississippi). Lake Mead (on the Arizona and Nevada border) has been on the news lately. Over the last few years, the water level in Lake Mead continued to get lower (due to water usage and evaporation) and there were not enough rains or snow melts to replenish the lake. The boat on the left below gradually became visible as the drought continued and this boat was completely out of the water this past Spring (2023). However, during the winter of 2023, there was a lot more snow than normal in areas north of Lake Mead. The melting snow added over 20 feet to the water level of Lake Mead. Look at the same boat under the water on the right below. Someone marked the boat so that other boaters would see it and not hit it.
