Loss of rain forests affects weather

Since the late 1990s, literally thousands of square miles of once pristine Brazilian rain forests have been slashed in order to produce more soybeans, beef and timber for export to a demanding world. The rapid deforestation of the Amazon Basin may lead to some unfavorable climate changes, not only in that region, but perhaps across the globe and here in the Inland Northwest as well.

Climatologists have warned for years now about the big “forest-to-farms land-grab.” Soybean production in the Amazon Basin, for example, soared after heat-tolerant varieties were introduced a decade ago. Brazil may soon lead the entire world in annual soybean exports, surpassing even the U.S.

Brazil has been the planet’s largest exporter of beef since 2004. Demand for Brazilian hardwoods, in particular, has more than doubled, and most of the timber taken from the Amazon Basin is cut illegally. The market forces of globalization began invading the Amazon more than 40 years ago. During that time, approximately 20 percent of the region’s rain forests have been cut – more than what had been felled in the entire 450-year span since the start of European colonization.

Thousands of indigenous Indian tribes have been displaced due to the deforestation. The situation will only worsen as another 20 percent of the Amazon’s timber is cut between now and 2025.

Once an 1,100-mile-long road that splits the Amazon into two pieces is fully paved, the assaults on the forests along its flanks will only intensify. This so-called “Soy Highway” will connect huge soybean farms – as large as 300,000 acres each – and numerous timber mills with coastal ports.

Many are afraid the Amazon Rain Forest’s ecology will eventually fall apart. Severe drought conditions, like the recent 2004-05 event, lowered the Amazon River by as much as 40 feet in places. The effects will ultimately raise the chances of disastrous wildfires that could ravage what’s left of the forest.

Since the Amazon produces at least half of its own precipitation through the moisture it releases into the atmosphere by evaporation, convection and condensation, what trees remain after the fires and logging raids would quickly die out from the prolonged effects of parching drought.

We may even see some unfavorable changes in global climate patterns as the result of the ecological mega-disaster in the Amazon. Oceanic currents like the Europe-warming Gulf Stream could likewise be altered, which would eventually change the upper-level jet stream flows. Most storm systems, including the ones we usually receive, follow that stream of air in the higher atmosphere.

If things don’t change in the Amazon, drought conditions in the Western U.S., particularly the desert Southwest, may worsen. The drought of 2006-07 in that part of the country may already be one of the worst in recorded history. Even our own Inland Northwest may suffer some moisture losses somewhere down the climatological roadway.

As far as our near-term weather is concerned, the storm door has opened a bit. This should mean some additional showers and several thunderstorms between now and mid-June. But, by mid to late June, much like last year, the rains will quickly subside and temperatures will likely soar into the above-normal upper 80s and lower 90s in the region. We may be in for another warm to hot summer.