NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) — Catholics in Nairobi delivered a convoy of aid to the dioceses of Isiolo and Marsabit, where thousands are facing a severe drought. The convoy, carrying 80 tons of food and supplies valued at nearly $78,000, included items donated by parishes in the Archdiocese of Nairobi, following an appeal by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops in February. The diocese also sent $16,500 in cash. Bishop Anthony Ireri Mukobo of Isiolo told Catholic News Service that the convoy was “a real Lent. It’s going to save lives.” “We are now embarking on distributing the food in parishes,” he added. “Some of the neediest areas are distant and the roads are poor.” He said more relief would be needed because the drought was expected to continue. As the convoy left March 17, Nairobi Cardinal John Njue said the bishops had decided to mobilize for food aid because the drought had hit half of the…

From the Bureau of Reclamation: The Bureau of Reclamation today announced the 2017 water supply allocation for the remaining Central Valley Project contractors. On Feb. 28, 2017, Reclamation announced the water supply allocation for CVP contractors in the Friant Division (Millerton Reservoir), Eastside Division (New Melones Reservoir), and the American River Division (Folsom Reservoir). The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) reports that as of March 20, the statewide average snow water equivalent in the Sierra Nevada was 44 inches, as compared to 25 inches last year. Precipitation is currently 199 percent of the seasonal average to date for the Sierra Nevada for this point in the water year (which began Oct. 1, 2016). “As previously announced, Reclamation is taking a unique approach to announcing CVP water allocations,” said Acting Mid-Pacific Regional Director Pablo Arroyave. “In February, we notified the Refuge Contractors, San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors, and Sacramento River Settlement Contractors that, since this is not a Shasta Critical Year, they will receive 100 percent of their contract supply. We then provided additional allocations on February 28. Now,…

Not every cloud has a silver lining. Despite all the snow and rain that fell from the sky during the March 14 nor’easter and steady improvements in reservoir storage levels during the past few months, 14 counties in New Jersey remain under a drought warning and four others are under a drought watch. And don’t expect those warnings and watches to be lifted anytime soon, according to state environmental officials. Although some aspects of the drought situation have gotten better in recent weeks, other key indicators are not faring so well. Among the troubling factors, according to Larry Hajna, a spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Protection: New Jersey did not get as much snow and rain as it needed during the winter season. As a result, most regions of the state are currently rated as moderately dry, and the northern coastal region — Monmouth County and northern Ocean County — is classified as severely dry. Stream flows in the state’s northeastern and southern coastal regions have been extremely dry during the past 90 days. Shallow groundwater is rated as extremely dry in the state’s southwestern region, the area along the…

STILLWATER — It is unlikely a wheat producer living in rural Oklahoma and an accountant comfortably settled in one of the state’s urban centers will view drought in the same way. More to the point, drought is in the eye of the beholder. “If you’re a rancher or farmer it can be something that damages your crops or pasture or makes your farm pond go dry or low,” said Gary McManus, state climatologist for the Oklahoma Mesonet. “If you’re a lake manager or water manager for a city, it’s something that can drain your lake or cause it to not fill up when you really need that recharge If you’re a tourism director, it can cause people not to come to your state.” Every segment of the population will feel the effects of an extended period of no precipitation, and despite harboring vastly different perspectives on the potentially devastating natural phenomenon known as drought, the best chance of successfully managing its effects lies in a concerted all-hands-on-deck approach. “We’re all in this,” said Saleh Taghvaeian, assistant professor and Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension specialist in water resources. “The drought impacts all of us — agriculture, urban populations, industry — so we have to take all the measures we can to be ready and prepared for the next drought.” To be clear, the stakes are serious. Water is not the limitless natural resource it appears to be when a faucet, sprinkler or irrigation system is turned on. As evidence, consider Taghvaeian’s recent research on previous droughts in Oklahoma and their impact on irrigated agriculture. Part of the findings indicate that over the past 15 years in the Oklahoma Panhandle, where producers rely on the Ogallala Aquifer for irrigation, the aquifer’s water levels have dropped about 18 feet on average. However, 60 percent of that decline occurred during four years of the most recent drought from 2011 to 2015. “In parts of the state that have access to groundwater they can pump during drought, it’s usually a more rapid decline of water resources during drought years,” Taghvaeian said. “It’ll impact the future of that water resource and its availability in that region.” Particularly in the case of groundwater resources, which are harder to quantify because they are below the surface, Taghvaeian said people should think of it like a savings account. “During…

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire unveiled his Cabinet picks Tuesday in Mogadishu.
For the first time in Somalia’s history, several women are among the nominees, including the proposed disaster management minister, Maryan Qasim Ahmed.
Khaire nominated 68 cabinet members in all, many of whom served in previous governments.
Many Somalis were expecting a smaller Cabinet, in keeping with President Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed’s promise to run an effective administration and cut down on corruption.
"The fact that it is a big cabinet would not meet with the people’s higher expectation from the current leaders,” said Virginia-based Somalia analyst Abdiqafar Abdi Wardhere.
“We were expecting new, trustable faces, and technocrats and people who can lead the nation to the right direction, but the old faces in the Cabinet show otherwise."
Khaire’s nominee for finance minister, economist Abdirahman Duale Beyle, previously served as foreign minister.
To serve as the next foreign minister, Khaire nominated Yusuf Garad Omar, a British-Somali national who was formerly chief of the BBC’s Somali service.
The nominees must be approved by Somalia’s parliament.
Parliament elected President Mohammed, commonly known as Farmajo, to a five-year term last month.

Warming intensifies Colorado drought.
Forty million people depend on the Colorado River for drinking water.
And the problem is going to get worse as the climate changes.
That’s not just because we’re going to see changing precipitation patterns.
And warmer temperatures can exacerbate droughts, especially when they happen in spring.
When it does, it evaporates or gets absorbed by soil.
As a result, when summertime comes, less is available for runoff into the river.
Woodhouse: “We’re moving toward these warmer drought conditions that are having more of an impact on stream flow.” So for the farmers who depend on the river for irrigation, and the communities that rely on it for drinking water, warmer and drier conditions pose a real and immediate threat.
Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy/ChavoBart Digital Media.
Photo: Colorado River.

Recovering pastures after a drought.
A lack of moisture in the fall, along with cooler weather, may negatively impact plant growth and delay root development.
Follow soil test recommendations to apply lime and other recommended nutrients.
Before any fertilizer is applied to bermudagrass or bahiagrass this spring, be sure the pasture has 80 to 90 percent green up.
If root growth needs to be stimulated, focus on adding phosphorus.
To allow plant recovery and root development, limit postgrazing height to 3 inches.
Also, pastures are less able to compete with vigorous weeds, especially annual weeds.
If a pasture has at least one viable plant per square foot, then the pasture will likely recover with appropriate applied nutrients and grazing management.
Pastures with less than 30 percent stand loss should recover quickly with strategic fertility, weed control, and grazing management.
Stands with over 60 percent loss may require renovation or long rest periods, which may be nine months to a year under favorable weather conditions, for full recovery.

A new report finds much of New Jersey is drought-free.
We had a significant snow and rain storm across the Garden State last week, but the New Jersey Department of Environmental protection has not changed any of its drought warnings or watches in central and north Jersey — yet.
A drought warning remains in effect for Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren counties.
However the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report for New Jersey shows 43 percent of the state (southern and coastal) is now classified as being drought-free, while only 6 percent of northern New Jersey is still listed as being in a “severe drought” situation.
DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said most reservoirs are in good shape because demand for water has been down for months, “but that demand will increase in the coming months and we’ll need to review the indicators at that point to see if any changes are warranted.” Broccoli agreed that at this point taking a wait-and-see approach makes sense.
He said over the next few weeks there is a potential for above normal precipitation in New Jersey, which is good news, “but of course there’s a big difference between a forecast and what really happens.” “The forecast looks optimistic, but we’ll have to see if Mother Nature delivers on those promises,” he said.
He said it’s important to keep in mind “we’re probably better at predicting the direction our temperatures will take as opposed to how much rain we’ll get.
With rain so much depends on individual storms, and how much rain they deliver in a particular location.” Broccoli said there are indications weak El Nino systems could be forming in the Pacific Ocean, which could bring New Jersey and the rest of the East Coast above-average precipitation, but that pattern will not take shape until next winter.
“We’re really looking pretty far into the future when we’re talking about what may happen next winter, on the basis of a projection that has yet to materialize,” he said.
More from New Jersey 101.5:

A very active winter season that featured relentless storms brought significant drought improvement to California.
According to a March 14 Drought Monitor report, only 8.24 percent of California is currently labeled in a drought.
Back at the start of winter, 70.11 percent of California was labeled in a drought.
It is quite impressive that a drought that started about five years ago was greatly reduced in only a few months.
Drought conditions two years ago in March 2015.
While the excessive rain and snow did have some negative impacts at times, the overall impact was positive as the rain lead to significant improvement in the drought.
As you can see in the image below, one positive impact was water level improvement in many of the major reservoirs across the state.
Looking back two years from today, it was a much different story with all of the major reservoirs below their historical average.
It also hasn’t been just rainfall that has been plentiful.
The snow total for the season currently stands at 519.5 inches.

Utah is Finally Drought Free!.
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (ABC4 Utah) – It has been several years since we have been able to say this — there are no droughts to report in Utah.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made the declaration.
"We’ve had an exceptionally wet winter season which would be the December 1 through the end of February, with some places getting three or even 400 percent of normal precip {precipitation} over the north," said Michael Conger, Senior Forecaster, National Weather Service Salt Lake.
A map tweeted out from NOAA shows the drought conditions across the United States, with Utah coming in 100 percent drought free.
#DroughtMonitor pic.twitter.com/XFdhIYARxM — NOAA (@NOAA) March 16, 2017 "We have been coming out of an exceptionally dry stretch from the early 2010s and we finally got a good winter and got knocked out of the drought," explained Conger.
Many spots in the Western part of the U.S. are also either experiencing drought free conditions, or conditions that are at least better than years before.
Although Utah is in the clear right now, Conger encourages everyone to still conserve their water usage.
"It’s always a good idea not to waste water.
I would say just because we’re out of the drought, I would say we should continue — at least our mindsets should continue."