纪录片《全球怪象》 第14期：大雨浸透（在线收听）

Global weirding is a phrase she helped popularise.

她帮助普及了"全球怪象"这一说法

One of the clues to the weirding of the West Texas weather

西德州古怪天气成因的一个线索

lies right under her feet.

就藏在她脚下

What we got here's some West Texas dirt,

这是些西德州的泥土

and this is good dirt

很好的泥土

even though it's blowing away like sand,

尽管风吹起来就像沙子一样

it's just very very dry.

那是因为太干了

Right now we're below 99%, below average right now -

现在比正常情况要干燥太多

so far below average we can't measure how dry it is.

比平均值低太多都无法测量有多干

As the soil becomes drier and drier,

随着土地越来越干

the drought gets worse and worse.

干旱也越来越严重

And that gets amplified because there's no moisture left in the soil

由于土壤中没有水分蒸发形成降雨

to evaporate into rain.

旱情恶性循环

But the weird thing about the weather in West Texas

但西德州气候奇怪之处在于

is that the year before this record-breaking drought,

这场史无前例大旱出现的前一年

these bone-dry fields were awash in rain.

西德州干旱的大地曾被倾盆大雨浸透

So much rain that it broke all records.

当时降雨量之大同样史无前例