Drought continues stress on crops
OKLAHOMA CITY — Lack of rainfall and above-average temperatures are prolonging the drought conditions that have stressed crops and rangelands and placed new pressures on groundwater sources across the U.S. Southern Plains, climatologists from the region said Monday.
While some areas of the Texas Panhandle and southwestern Oklahoma have received plentiful precipitation in recent days, other parts of those states plus New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas have experienced only spotty precipitation since October, New Mexico State Climatologist Dave Dubois said during a national briefing.
“Over the majority of the area it’s been pretty light,” DuBois said.
Drought conditions are so severe across much of the Southwest that they rival those during the disastrous Dust Bowl period of the 1930s, when severe dust storms killed livestock and caused crops to fail.
Oklahoma State Climatologist Gary McManus said some climatological stations in the western part of his state have recorded less than 2 inches of rain since October.
Higher temperatures cause what little rain that does fall to evaporate rather than soak into the ground and recharge water tables.
Less-than-normal rainfall affects the viability of vegetation in the region, including fields cultivated by the region’s farmers and open prairies that provide habitat for wildlife, DuBois said.
“That’s a big concern with croplands and also rangelands,” DuBois said.
“There’s a lot more stress on our plant systems.” He said there’s a link between drought conditions and a decline in Oklahoma’s wheat harvest in recent years.
Precipitation generally increases across the region during the winter and spring months as rainfall and snowmelt replenish water supplies, but DuBois said the Southern Plains has received “very little to no runoff” from snow this year.
Drought effects improve in southwestern ND, expand to the north
The Franks run about 1,000 cow-calf pairs on pastures around southwestern North Dakota and into South Dakota — some of the areas hardest hit by the 2017 drought.
Farmers and ranchers in parts of the Dakotas and Montana regarded the 2017 drought to be among the worst droughts in recent memory.
Last year, the drought was worst in southern and western North Dakota.
The second week in May brought half an inch of rain to the area.
For Frank and other farmers and ranchers in many parts of the region, it’s too soon to say that the drought is over.
And while southern North Dakota was the beneficiary of some gentle, soaking rains, other parts of the region haven’t been as lucky.
"As soon as we go two weeks without (moisture), you’ll notice very quickly that the grass may remain green but there’s no growth," Schlag says, noting that already is happening in the area north of Highway 200 in North Dakota.
Frank doesn’t expect to run out of hay.
Schlag says southern North Dakota, the area that fared the worst in last year’s drought, has caught the most rain so far this season.
It’s been dry for two to three weeks, with little precipitation.
Texas Drought Conditions Worsen
TEXAS DROUGHT – Drought throughout Texas appears to be getting worse.
That’s according to weekly figures from the U.S. Drought Monitor released last week.
Eric Luebehusen is a meteorologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
He said he’s holding his breath for some much-needed rain across Central and Northern Texas.
"We’re kind of in a holding pattern, hoping that things get a little bit better here over the next week to at least slow down the degradations that we’re seeing across essentially West Central, Northern Eastern Texas, as well as the Gulf coast region" explained Luebehusen.
More than 43 percent of Texas is experiencing drought conditions — up nearly five percent from last week.
The number goes up to almost 64 percent when including areas considered Abnormally Dry.
Luebehusen says while some heavy rain events peppered parts of the state over the couple of weeks, it’s going to take a lot more precipitation to make a real dent in the dry conditions.
According to Luebehusen “…hoping for a little bit more widespread soaking with the next two potential rain events, but the overall idea has been for conditions to essentially either hold steady or deteriorate across much of Texas.” Other areas that saw a significant increase in drought intensity and coverage was down along the Gulf Coast.
Pretty much the entire Texas Gulf Coast, although the coastal areas around Victoria, Texas were unchanged.
Weather Blog: Florida sees record levels of drought busting rain
My how things have changed!
Drought hasn’t vanished completely, but we’re finally heading in the right direction.
It’s all the result of a weather pattern that’s been giving us levels of rain we haven’t seen since September of last year (you may remember we had a certain hurricane that month).
Average rainfall in the month of May is between 2.5 to 3.25 inches.
We are meeting or exceeding those numbers in just the past week.
That’s a lot of water!
In fact, many weather stations in Southwest Florida are in the top 10 for recorded rainfall for the past 7 days (May 13 – 19) according to the NOAA Southeast Regional Climate Center.
Southwest Florida has only cracked the top 25 of May record rain.
Moisture continues to funnel out of the tropics directly over Florida and is expected to do so until at least next weekend.
DeSoto County picked up the first flood warning of the season on Sunday.
Drought effects improve in southwest ND
The Franks run about 1,000 cow-calf pairs on pastures around southwestern North Dakota and into South Dakota — some of the areas hardest hit by the 2017 drought.
Farmers and ranchers in parts of the Dakotas and Montana regarded the 2017 drought to be among the worst droughts in recent memory.
However, the U.S. Drought Monitor released May 17 had almost 90 percent of North Dakota in at least abnormally dry conditions, with areas to the west in moderate drought and a small band of severe drought in the north central area, which makes up 5.5 percent of the state.
Last year, the drought was worst in southern and western North Dakota.
The second week in May brought half an inch of rain to the area.
For Frank and other farmers and ranchers in many parts of the region, it’s too soon to say that the drought is over.
Even if the area receives normal precipitation, there’s still a "hangover effect" from last year, which will make timely rains all the more important.
"As soon as we go two weeks without (moisture), you’ll notice very quickly that the grass may remain green but there’s no growth," Schlag says, noting that already is happening in the area north of Highway 200 in North Dakota.
Frank doesn’t expect to run out of hay.
Schlag says southern North Dakota, the area that fared the worst in last year’s drought, has caught the most rain so far this season.
Heavy rain not enough to break drought
Meteorologist Abbi Duval with the National Weather Service says don’t be fooled by the rainstorm we saw early Sunday morning, although much of the area saw almost an inch of rainfall, it’s still not enough to alleviate this drought.
“We only got about 52 hundredths here at the office, and while every little bit helps, we’re going to need some more to break this drought,” said Duval.
And with a drought is the inherent danger of fires… From the McDannald fire in the Davis Mountains to the Mallard fire in the panhandle.
The dangers of fires are still very real even with the rain that fell over West Texas early Sunday morning.
“I mean you could look around all parts of the Permian Basin and see that we are still in a drought, even though we got that rain, the grass is still brown and there’s a lot that could still go up [in flames],” Duval explains.
But we should still hold on to hope.
“It’s [rain] gonna come, we’re not gonna stay in a drought forever.
So take the necessary precautions to keep fires from starting,” Duval says.
But for this Meteorologist, She says any rain is a welcome sight.
“It was very, very nice to see some rain on the radar,” Duval explained.
Drought Improves for Northeast Colorado – ‘Exceptional’ Continues to Expand in Southwest
Abnormally dry conditions continued to recede from the northeast, leaving more than 20 percent of the state free from drought.
Moderate drought was also in decline for Adams, Arapahoe and northern Elbert county, moving those areas into abnormally dry conditions.
Severe drought dropped to moderate conditions in parts of Elbert and Lincoln counties.
Much of the remainder of the state remained stable compared to the previous week, though exceptional drought expanded to the east in San Juan, La Plata, Hinsdale and Archuleta counties.
Overall, about 14 percent of the state is abnormally dry, with another 14 percent in moderate drought.
Twenty percent is experiencing severe drought, while 23 percent in extreme drought.
Nearly eight percent of the state is in exceptional drought.
One year ago, more than 81 percent of the state was drought-free, while about 18 percent was abnormally dry.
Less than one percent of Colorado was in moderate drought.
Drought classes include (ranked from least to most severe) abnormally dry, moderate, severe, extreme, and exceptional drought.
Lockyer Valley and Southern Downs finally drought declared
After months of speculation and hardship for many Queensland farmers, the Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries, Mark Furner has taken on board the local drought committee recommendations and included the Southern Downs and Lockyer Valley in the most recent review of Queensland’s drought conditions.
Mr Furner acknowledged that the last twelve months has also been very dry for the Southern Downs and Lockyer Regional Council areas.
“There are significant concerns about stock, irrigation and rural domestic water supplies, and I have therefore accepted the local drought committee’s recommendations to drought declare these council areas,” Mr Furner said.
This latest drought review sees a reduced number of areas drought declared considering good summer rain at the beginning of the year but sees the inclusion of these two regions.
“A lack of useful spring and summer rainfall over the last four to five years, combined with above average temperatures, continues to have a major impact in most of pastoral Queensland.” This comes as no surprise to the Queensland Dairyfarmers Organisation who have been receiving numerous calls for assistance from members in areas that had not been declared in the last two reviews.
As an industry organisation, it has been frustrating for us not to be able to provide any real level of assistance to members in these two key dairy farming regions.
We will be on the phone to our members in the newly declared areas to let them know the news and how to access funding.
I know it will come as a welcome relief to those who have been doing it tough.
While members across Queensland outside of drought declared regions could access funding by applying for an Individual Droughted Property (IDP), it is acknowledged that this is by far a more arduous process with significantly more paperwork for submissions.
Drought declared regions can be found at www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au.
Given drought and dropping reservoirs, water issues critical for next governor
New Mexico’s next governor should be ready to confront the state’s critical water issues on his or her first day in office.
That’s according to Mike Connor, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior during the Obama administration, who spoke at a water conference at the University of New Mexico on Thursday.
Susana Martinez’s administration—to what the next governor needs to understand about New Mexico’s water challenges, from drought and water transfers to interstream agreements, including on the Colorado River, whose waters seven U.S. states and Mexico share.
The conference lineup included former federal officials like Connor, as well as political appointees who served under Govs.
Crisis vs. opportunity Adrian Oglesby, director of UNM’s Utton Transboundary Resources Center, touched upon some of the most important water issues in the state, including drought, Indian water rights settlements, the Gila River diversion, pending groundwater permits and New Mexico’s ability to deliver water to downstream users under interstate compacts.
“Along those lines, at the Utton Center we like to harp on preventive diplomacy.” Whether people view a warm, dry year like this one as a crisis or an opportunity, he said, “it’s up to us, and it depends on the relationships we form in this room together.” Oglesby also noted that Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado, the U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit over water from the Rio Grande, is “about to start getting much more interesting.” In 2013, Texas sued the upstream states of New Mexico and Colorado, alleging that by allowing southern New Mexico farmers to pump groundwater connected to the Rio Grande, the state failed to send its legal share of water downstream.
“Outside of New Mexico, New Mexico’s water issues are not the center of anyone’s attention,” he said, adding that “New Mexico needs to take the lead to care about itself, then drive the process.” The state needs to focus its water priorities and step up participation in federal partnerships and programs that address drought, he said.
There is also “opportunity and need in engaging New Mexico’s tribes,” he said.
“Beyond settlements, there is also the need and opportunity to engage with tribes in water resources management and strategies,” he said.
Instead, it should drive innovation.
Early predictions worsen drought concerns
It is already bone dry in many regions and the forecast calls for a continuation of that weather pattern through much of Alberta, Saskatchewan and western Manitoba.
Winnipeg has had the driest start to a year since Environment Canada began tracking precipitation in 1872.
“A good portion of Manitoba really is in a desperate situation already and we’re just into the early part of May.” Strong winds haven’t helped conditions in the dry areas of the Prairies.
He is most concerned about eastern Saskatchewan and southern Manitoba, which will be parched for the longest period.
In the western Prairies, it is expected to be arid in June with timely showers and thunderstorms in southern and eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan in July and August.
Daphne Cruise, crops extension specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, said dry conditions are at the forefront of producers’ minds in the south coming off last year’s drought.
Many growers in the central part of the province were pleasantly surprised by last year’s yields given the dry conditions.
Harry Brook, crop specialist with Alberta Agriculture, said there is very little soil moisture in central and southern Alberta and the northern Peace region, making those areas susceptible to drought.
However, most of the Peace region is saturated and could use some drying down, so the dry and warm conditions would be welcome there.
If it was up to us, we’d rather not issue a forecast of precipitation but I know that’s all important to farmers,” he said.