September 12, 2011

Two Weeks, Three Feet of Rain

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All rainfall between 26 Aug and 9 Sep 2011. Credit: NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory.All rainfall between 26 Aug and 9 Sep 2011. Measurements analyzed by the National Weather Service’s River Forecast Centers, based on radar, rain gauges, and satellite rainfall estimates. Credit: NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory.

If you’ve been wondering just how waterlogged it’s been the past two weeks in the eastern US, here’s an appropriately soggy-looking visual aid. Nearly three feet of rain fell in a broad north-south swath from Virginia through New England between 26 August and 6 September, thanks to Hurricane Irene, Tropical Storm Lee, and a few cold fronts from the north. Some locations weathered two month’s worth of rain in a half week. More rain fell over the weekend, likely pushing rainfall totals past the three-foot mark in at least a few areas. Unfortunately, the weather pattern looks ready to set up another wet window in the East after the coming weekend. Plus some models are forecasting the development of a tropical depression or strong tropical disturbance off the coast of Africa later this week. Meanwhile, over in Texas, the situation is all about a different bleak extreme: with drought fueling 18,719 wildfires that have burned 3.5-plus million acres—more than half the total burned in the nation this year.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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