DALLAS (Reuters)
- A bone-dry summer in north central Texas was set to break a
Depression-era drought record on Monday as the Dallas area marked
59 days without rain and no relief was in sight, weather officials
said.
By the end
of the day, the arid streak with 100 degree daily highs would
break a record of 58 days set in the midst of the Dustbowl in
1934 and tied in 1950, the U.S. National Weather Service said.
``Nothing
appears to be moving in that would bring us any significant rain
for at least the next 10 days or so,'' said Roland Nunez, a meteorologist
with the weather service in Fort Worth, Texas.
But despite
breaking a Dustbowl record, Nunez said there was no comparison
between the current drought in most of Texas and the disastrous
drought and dust storms of the Great Depression that blighted
the Great Plains and turned millions of farm families into migrants.
In 1934 the
record dry spell was part of a longer 121-day period when only
about a quarter-inch of rain fell from May 4 to Sept. 2.
This year,
by comparison, the Dallas-Fort Worth area has received 10.8 inches
of rain over the last 121 days.
``There's
no comparison between then and now. This drought is significant
and is taking a toll on the landscape and water resources. But
it's not a reason for people to panic,'' Nunez said.
The long,
hot summer in most of the state has cost Texas farmers and ranchers
$595 million in lost production this year, state agricultural
experts said last week.
They said
it was the fourth year of the past five in which searing summer
temperatures and lack of rain have damaged Texas agriculture.
In both 1996 and 1998, losses topped $2 billion in the state,
the Texas Agricultural Extension Service said.
The service
said the top losses have been in cotton, $285 million, wheat,
$125 million, and ranching, $62 million.
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