Since 2014, the precipitation in Shandong Province has been on the low side. Affected by this, the province's drought continued to develop, with 6.39 million mu of crops suffering from drought, and 139,000 people experiencing temporary drinking water difficulties. It is predicted that the precipitation in Shandong will be less from winter 2015 to summer 2016.
According to the statistical data, since 2014, the precipitation in Shandong Province has been on the low side. Among them, in 2014, the average precipitation in Shandong Province was 525.1 mm, which was 18.2% less than that in other years. Since this year, the cumulative average precipitation in Shandong Province has been 500.9 mm, 18.4% less than that in the same period of the year. Especially in the flood season (June to August), the precipitation is obviously less. In the flood season of 2014 and 2015, the precipitation is 34.4% and 19.8%, respectively, which is the fifth and ninth lowest since 1961.
Another major cause of drought is the abnormal low precipitation in the Yellow River Basin. Chen Yanchun, director of Shandong Climate Center, said that the precipitation in the Yellow River Basin in summer of 2015 was significantly less than 2-50% in most areas and 5-80% in some areas, which resulted in a smaller inflow of water from the Yellow River than that of the perennial period and a significant decrease in the number of passenger water resources entering Shandong.
Affected by this, 6.39 million mu of crops in Shandong Province appeared drought. According to the monitoring by the water conservancy department, the total water storage capacity of all kinds of water conservancy projects in Shandong Province is only 4.897 billion cubic meters, 40% less than the same period in previous years. Among them, the storage capacity of large and medium-sized reservoirs, Nansi Lake and Dongping Lake is 2.714 billion cubic meters, which is the penultimate in the same period in the past 15 years. Sustained drought has caused 6.39 million mu of crops to suffer from drought and temporary drinking water difficulties for 139,000 people.
According to the forecast of Shandong Climate Center, the precipitation in Shandong Province will be less than that in the same period of the year from this winter to next summer (December 2015 to August 2016). Shandong Meteorological Observatory suggested that all relevant departments should establish long-term drought resistance ideology, scientifically dispatch and use water resources, and do a good job in forest fire prevention.