Many might be inclined to blame God or Mother Nature for the recent drought in Georgia. As for me, I have in mind a more mundane set of perpetrators-Kentucky coal mining companies. They have continually raped the mountains and left them bare, refusing to restore the land to its original contours, while relying on some arcane legal inclusion in the law that allows for “community expansion”. This has recently been the case in Pikeville Kentucky. As a result, what we see is a lessening of those mountainous areas of the state that previously provided a bulwark against the approaches of Gulf based storms and hurricanes. Over the years, Kentucky has seen a drastic increase in the amount of tornadoes over the years. Where at one time a tornado was a rare once a year at most event, it now probably averages more like once a month at least.
Snowfall, which once was moderate in the winter, and sometimes though rarely severe, has tapered off to the extent it is now almost nonexistent in most years. More often than not, we have rain, not snow. In fact, it occurs to me-and it is becoming more and more obvious-Kentucky has stolen Georgia’s rain. In earlier years, Kentucky mountains prevented the majority of the Gulf based rain, what portions made it past the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, from going further north than the Cumberland Gap. The vast majority of Kentucky’s rain came from the north and the west, mainly in the spring. In the winter, we got snow from the same directions. Now, of course, it usually melts into rain or condenses into sleet due to the now much more prevalent and warmer Gulf air incursions that add its own rain to the mix.
All of this so a relative handful of Kentucky mountain people can become nouveau riche, and the coal companies can rake in a hefty extra billion or two (like they wouldn’t still be filthy rich if they restored the land contours like they should).
All I can say is, if the water reservoirs and lakes of Atlanta dry completely up, do not blame me. I only live here, and if it is any consolation, I absolutely despise rain in the winter.
