As I write this, I’m sitting on my front porch enjoying a beautiful spring day, the sun is shining, there is a light breeze and rain is forecast for the start of the weekend. Here in the southeast United States, when people pass the time of day chatting about the weather (as we all seem to the world over) the conversation inevitably turns to the continuing drought and when the next good rainfall is expected.

This month on ‘Weather FX’ we look at drought and how it continues to affect so many parts of the world and the impact little or no rainfall has on our lives. For some of us, it’s a matter of conserving water, but as we know only too well, for others, drought can become a matter of life and death.

To film this month’s show we headed up to Lake Lanier, a reservoir in the northern portion of Georgia, which provides drinking water for several million people. By December last year, the continuing drought in the southeast had reached critical status and water levels in the lake set an all time record low. Water restrictions had been in place for several months by this stage, but thankfully since the beginning of 2008, good winter and early spring rains have made some headway, although the levels are still over four meters below the ideal and it is crucial that we see more rain during the next few months.

But what about life in an arid or semi-arid climate? Across regions such as northern Africa, seasonal rains become your lifeline and if they fail to materialize the results can be devastating. And how do you survive in a desert climate?

Rain we can forecast, but drought? Can it be predicted? And what can be done to recover from severe drought?

These are just some of the questions we hope to answer in this month’s show and just like last month, we will also be answering some of the questions you have emailed to us and showing the best of your iReport pictures and video.

Just one last thing before I sign off – are you good at recycling water? I’m not sure you will go to quite the lengths of some….there is recycling and then there is recycling, as you will find out in our ‘Weather FX Files’ on this month’s show…..I’ll say no more and leave you to watch.

-- From CNN International Weather Anchor, Jenny Harrison

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