In fact, it’s been raining for days.
I’ve been closely following coverage of the drought in my home state.
It’s time we sit, talk and learn about it.
“Climate change is altering fundamental weather patterns — affecting temperatures, water availability, and weather extremes — that shape the lives of New Mexicans,” the Union of Concerned Scientists reported in 2016.
Climate change affects us all, but some more than others.
Those most affected by droughts and climate change are disproportionately people of color — like my people, the Jemez Pueblo community of New Mexico.
A report by the Poor People’s Campaign and the Institute for Policy Studies found that poor people spend seven times as much on water as wealthy households.
And 13 of the 20 most water-poor counties in the U.S. were majority-Native.
How are my people the most affected?
Our irrigation systems are on the brink of becoming obsolete — and with it the food sovereignty we’ve cultivated for generations.

Drought increases the impact of other forest problems, a forestry expert says.
Trees become so stressed that they are unable to survive tougher times, such as bark beetles or a slow-moving root disease.
“A lot of different things can kill it, but it’s the sum of all the damage agents that dispose it to death,” Perleberg said.
Forest landowners gathered to learn about drought and several other topics June 23 during WSU Extension’s Forest and Range Owners Field Day.
Forest entomologists expect insect pests such as Douglas-fir tussock moth and spruce budworm to begin popping up again sometime soon in some locations, Perleberg said.
“They come in cycles and it’s time for another outbreak,” he said.
Other topics throughout the day included reforestation, thinning and pruning, protecting forests from wildfire, wildlife habitat, technical and financial assistance programs and soil compaction.
The field day was designed to help landowners better understand basic and new management information, Perleberg said.
“As one 160-acre becomes four 40-acre parcels, my clientele is growing,” he said.
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ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – There’s still time to turn it around, but the Missouri Farm Bureau is concerned about a worsening drought and its effect on livestock.
Eric Bohl, the bureau’s public affairs director, says at least 70 percent of the state is in some sort of drought right now — about a fifth of it, mainly in the northern part of the state, is in a severe drought.
“If we start to get normal rains again now, we would still have enough time to get to a point where we could make it through alright without having to resort to too drastic measures,” he says.
The problem started in the fall.
Dry conditions meant a smaller hay crop, and then the winter that wouldn’t end affected the size of the spring crop.
Now with continued dryness, some cattle are getting stuck in the mud as they tread further into pond beds looking for water.

The Governor’s Drought Team examines continued drought conditions as summer temps climb.
Today Governor Jeff Colyer updated the Drought Declaration for Kansas counties with Executive Order 18-16 (attached).
“I’ve heard many concerns from producers and have seen the conditions first hand.
We appreciate our federal partners at the Natural Resources Conservation Service as well as the Kansas Association of Conservation Districts— when we asked them to identify additional sources of assistance they responded quickly to help producers address these extreme drought conditions.” The updated drought declaration has 50 counties in emergency status, 27 in warning status while 28 counties are in watch status.
This action was recommended by Tracy Streeter, Director of the Kansas Water Office (KWO) and Chair of the Governor’s Drought Response Team.
“With reported livestock water shortages, low flows at some of our reservoirs and monthly outlooks favoring persistent drought we know it’s imperative to monitor conditions closely,” said Tracy Streeter.
Individuals and communities need to contact KWO for a water supply request prior to any withdrawals from lakes.
They will, in turn, be referred to the appropriate office to obtain the necessary permit to withdraw the water.
Effective immediately: Declare a Drought Emergency, Warning or Drought Watch for the counties identified below; Authorize and direct all agencies under the jurisdiction of the Governor to implement the appropriate watch or warning level-drought response actions assigned in the Operations Plan of the Governor’s Drought Response Team.
# # # As the state’s water office, KWO conducts water planning, policy coordination and water marketing as well as facilitates public input throughout the state.

The week ahead is set to be warm, dry and settled, with rainfall totals less than 4mm for the bulk of the country.
Monday is forecast to be a mix of sunny spells and cloudy periods, with top temperatures of 23°C to 27°C, according to Met Éireann.
The middle of the week will generally be slightly cooler with good sunshine and some broken clouds.
Highest temperatures will range from 22°C to 26°C.
Farming forecast It has been almost completely dry across the country this past week, apart from patchy drizzle in the northwest and the odd shower in the southwest.
Drying and spraying A yellow drought warning is in place and, while currently there are good spraying conditions, caution is required due to leaf scorch.
Field conditions Soil moisture deficits are very high and range from around 55mm to 65mm in west Ulster and west Connacht but 70mm to 90mm elsewhere, highest of all over east and south Leinster.
Heatwave advice Human health and animal health: precautions and regular checking of animals is advised with the increased temperatures over the coming week.
Animal transportation: there are a number of factors that should be kept in mind when transporting livestock.
Silage and topping: an increasing soil moisture deficit is starting to hit growth and yield in second-cut crops.

‘Scattered showers’ forecasted this week will fall far below what is needed to restore water levels Irish Water’s senior management will meet this morning to assess the ongoing drought despite expectations of “scattered showers” crossing Ireland by the end of the week.
Reports on water usage from the utility’s Northwest, Southern and Eastern and Midlands regions will be used to assess the possible need for further restrictions following the all-areas hosepipe ban.
Already Irish Water has restrictions in place in a number of towns, with 8,000 consumers in Athlone, Co Westmeath, on reduced pressure overnight.
A similar situation is affecting Portlaoise, with 5,000 people experiencing reduced pressure.
There are also concerns about the supply in Galway city and coastal areas as day-trippers flocked to the seaside over the weekend.
In recent days Met Éireann said soil moisture levels were so low that a week of sustained rainfall would be necessary before the lakes and rivers start to recover from the drought.
The State’s high dependency on ground water supplies are particularly vulnerable to drought, according to Irish Water.
On Saturday Irish Water said the possibility of no rain falling in the near future could lead to further restrictions, such as night-time pressure reductions being extended to the commercial sector.
If these measures prove insufficient, Irish Water would have to consider wider reductions in water pressure, and a ban on all non-essential usage, including window washing and watering sports pitches.
Defying the ban can attract a fine of up to €125, but the majority of calls have been from people seeking clarification or advice on restrictions and outages, Irish Water said.

And drought conditions are set to continue for the foreseeable future with soil levels remaining extremely dry, according to forecaster Liz Walsh.
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Even intermittent showers expected throughout the week will not be enough to bring the moisture levels back to normal, she added.
"Arising from the effects of prolonged high pressure weather systems, high temperatures and drought conditions, an extreme fire risk is deemed to exist in all areas where there are hazardous fuels," it reads.
The warning comes after fire officers – with the help of the Air Corps and Coillte staff – were able to get a massive forest fire under control yesterday at the Slieve Bloom mountains in the midlands.
"There are hot spots and we are working with the Air Corps and fire service to attack these hot spots," he told the Irish Independent.
The fire ignited on Wednesday on the Offaly side of the mountain range.
The Offaly and Laois Fire Service has been fighting the blaze since then, aided by two Air Corps fire-fighting helicopters.
Meanwhile, a status yellow weather advisory remains in effect until midnight on Wednesday.
The warning from Met Éireann advises that the "mostly dry and warm weather will continue across Ireland for the rest of this week and through next week as well, thus exacerbating drought conditions."

This prolonged dry period has pluses and minuses.
What this tells us is that both these areas are running around to less than 50 percent of their normal rainfall for this period.
The question becomes, how long will this dry period last?
Areas that have seen normal to above-normal precipitation amounts from the past month (northern Spain into the Balkans) will continue to have scattered storms.
Western Germany will have much of their precipitation from the slow-moving closed upper-level low over the next 72 hours, then will dry out, the rest of the area will generally receive isolated storms, which will be mainly across Wales, and Ireland into Scotland.
This in turn will help with drought relief across much of Ukraine into the Baltic States and eastern Poland.
When you look across western Germany into the British Isles one might perk up and think…ooo some relief, but when you put it into context that many locations have for the month of July between 50 and 75 mm (2-3 inches of rain) and you started the first quarter of the month essentially dry, then add roughly 19 to 38 mm (0.75-1.50 inches) of rain by the time 75 percent of the month has gone, you are still left with around 50 percent for the month with about a week left.
The point I am trying to get across is that the area from western Germany into the British Isles is more likely to have their dry conditions continue through the next two weeks with isolated to scattered storms.
The less precipitation you have, the more likely the ground is going to be dry.
These small flames could lead to significant conditions if they fall on dry ground with fire fuel (dry scrub, leaves, etc.)

With more than half of Colorado in a state of severe to exceptional drought — its driest conditions since 2002 — fire has found opportune conditions to scorch a path this year across more than 200,000 acres in the state, torching dozens of buildings and prompting hundreds of people to evacuate.
Snowpack levels in the southwest corner of the state, where the 416 fire has burned more than 54,000 acres north of Durango since June 1, were that area’s second-worst ever, Goble said.
And the mid-May melt-out from higher elevations in the San Juan Mountains happened earlier than ever, he said.
But he said there is reason to hope that the worst is over, as expected July rains should start to provide relief, especially to the southern half of the state, hardest hit by the arid conditions.
“I am expecting that the fire danger of the past week is at or near the peak we’ll see this season,” he said.
The state has crossed that threshold three times, the first time in 2002, but hadn’t even reached half that amount in any year during the three decades prior, according to data from the Colorado State Forest Service and the National Wildfire Coordinating Group.
Jennifer Balch, assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said there is an undeniable link between both a warming climate and increased aridity with wildfires that are mounting in scope and frequency across the American West.
Where there were 20 large fires a year then, since 2010 well over 100 large fires each year are burning.” And with more people moving into Colorado and building new homes where once there was quiet forest land or empty prairie, Balch said, the fire danger goes up.
“When we develop into an area, we add fuel because we’re building homes and putting in propane tanks, and we’re opening up forest that used to be sheltered from the wind,” said Kodas, who wrote the 2017 book “Megafire: The Race to Extinguish a Deadly Epidemic of Flame.” “And we have a large increase in the number of fire starters.” A man from Denmark who is in the United States illegally was arrested last week in connection with starting the largest current blaze in the state — the 100,000-plus-acre Spring Creek fire in Costilla and Huerfano counties.
“However, we can incentivize building in places with less risk of severe fire that can be defended and we can educate the public about the increasing likelihood of more big fires in the years ahead so that people can be ready.”

The City of Greenville says it will not be issuing burn permits for residents or businesses for a while.
The move is the limit of the city’s authority to ban outdoor burning.
Hunt County has yet to issue a formal ban.
Meanwhile permits for open burning and recreational fires will not be issued within city limits until further notice.
New data from the US Drought Monitor shows conditions getting worse in Northeast Texas this week.
All counties in the region have moderate to severe drought classification.
Parts of Grayson, Lamar and Fannin counties are considered abnormally dry, as it a tiny portion at the northern border in Hunt County.
Otherwise the area between Northeast Texas and the Houston region is under at least moderate drought.
There is a chance for some rain in Northeast Texas this weekend.
Daytime temperatures should remain in the mid 90s under at least partly sunny skies for most of the coming week.