Days of upper 80’s and upper 90’s for the many will mean sunscreen and sun hats West could be in for Summer-like heat!
High pressure that parks itself over the western half of the nation through the middle part of the week, bringing abundant sunshine, dry conditions and temperatures into the 80s and 90s.
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Things will return to more normal conditions next week.
Drought Breeds Drought?
Could the drought only get worse with the extreme heat?
Avoid working in the heat of the day all-together.
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Conditions are even worse in the Four Corners region and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, warranting their description as “exceptional.” “The proverbial spigot shut off,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.
“Drought isn’t necessarily a signal for wildfires, but it can exacerbate the conditions that do take place.” Climatologists consider the months from October to April to be a “recharge” period, with showers and snow replenishing water supplies in the Southern Plains.
However, the most recent significant rain in the area came in early October.
There is very little snowpack remaining except on the highest peaks.
A map Fuchs presented during a conference call with reporters showed a sharp distinction on either side of a line from near Fort Worth, Texas, to near Chicago.
Moist areas of Arkansas and Missouri were within 100 miles of arid conditions in Kansas and Oklahoma.
“Even normal precipitation … would be helpful,” Fuchs said.
The dry air has likely contributed to some weather anomalies: Several towns in western Oklahoma have seen wild temperature swings, and Oklahoma hasn’t had a tornado yet this year, though a later start to the tornado season doesn’t mean it could be any less troublesome.
Similar temperature swings were recorded in the Oklahoma Panhandle and could be attributed to the dry air, not any of the station’s proximity to wildfires.
Wildfires have scarred many areas of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

The Western Cape government is probing allegations that water is being stolen as it makes its way from the Bergrivier dam to the Misverstand weir.
Local government‚ environmental affairs and development planning MEC‚ Anton Bredell‚ said that a coordinated law enforcement response had been put in place to catch anyone trying to illegally divert the water intended for the Saldanha area.
The Bergrivier dam sluices have been opened to release 5-million cubic meters to the parched Misverstand dam that had been predicted to run out of water later this week.
“We understand that there have been attempts by some to extract water irregularly as it heads towards Misverstand‚” he said.
This included attempts to channel water from the river to off-stream dams and other illegal extraction mechanisms.
He warned anyone caught doing this would face harsh penalties.
He also asked the public to report any instances of any illegal water extraction to their nearest municipalities.
They could also do this by contacting the national department to report any concerns.
Earlier this year‚ City of Cape Town law enforcement spokesman Wayne Dyason said his department had received reports of rivers being diverted onto private property in the Constantia area and bakkies had been seen illegally pumping 1‚000 litres of water at a time from the Milnerton vlei.
In February the Western Cape government agreed to put security in place to prevent water theft from public institutions after reports that schools and hospitals were being targeted.

KABUL, April 23 (Reuters) – Afghanistan faces the threat of serious drought this year after recording the lowest snowfall and rain in years over the winter, officials said on Monday, with at least 20 of 34 provinces already suffering badly.
The 20 provinces in the war-torn country saw a 60 percent shortfall in rain and snowfall during the winter season.
Snowmelt is an important source of water for crops and irrigation in a country where food is scarce for many households.
The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appealed on Monday for $10 million to help children and their families in drought-affected provinces.
"The priority is to prevent the situation from deteriorating, by responding to the needs of children and families in the worst affected areas," said Adele Khodr, UNICEF representative in Afghanistan.
An official at the agriculture ministry said it would start distribution of 2,000 metric tonnes of wheat imported from India and Kazakhstan before seeking fresh aid.
Last week, President Ashraf Ghani ordered officials to attend to the needs of distressed farmers and livestock producers.
But the situation is further complicated by an escalating conflict that often picks up with the start of warmer spring weather, leading to increased displacement and reduced access for humanitarian workers.
(Editing by James Mackenzie and Nick Macfie) © Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018.
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Reactions Last week, representatives from Hortgro, the Department of Agriculture, Vinpro and the African Farmers Association of South Africa reported back to Parliament on the state of agriculture in the Western Cape.
The meeting followed an in-depth analysis of the impacts of the drought on all major long-term crops, major vegetables, jobs, exports and other factors, as well as the impact on emerging farmers.
The Western Cape Agriculture sector – a key contributor to the provincial economy – has seen extensive losses and damage over the past year, prompting a call for interventions by local and national government to mitigate the impact on livestock breeding and support employees who have lost their jobs.
The 2017/18 reduction in seasonal exports had resulted in a R1.4-billion loss and a reduction in 11,705 seasonal jobs, he said.
Vinpro, for their part, spoke of a R5.9-billion loss in GVA and a substantial loss of jobs as key risks.
Support for emerging farmers Emerging farmers were in particular need of support, as they were hit hardest by the drought, said Jacobs.
In total, Jacobs said, 90% of the livestock farming areas across the Western Cape were either extremely critical or critical, and the natural veld was completely degraded, requiring at least three years to recover provided there was good rainfall.
Botha called for “direct support to communities” as well as action on irrigation dam projects, and continued communication and cooperation.
They also called for fodder support funding through Provincial Treasury and the National Disaster Management Centre, and recommended a plan be developed to protect the livestock genetic pool.
At the end of March, Western Cape Minister of Economic Opportunities Alan Winde said it would be impossible to speak of the budget for the Western Cape Department of Agriculture without considering the drought.

Uncredited/AP Cape Town, South Africa has been facing a drought crisis for three years.
Israel’s founders prioritized water conservation before they were an official nation (1948).
Israel purifies nearly 90% of its sewage supply as an alternative source of water for agricultural use.
At the national, provincial, and municipal levels, South Africa’s leaders ignored Cape Town’s shrinking water supply until it became a crisis.
Today, nearly 90% of Israel’s sewage is treated to an ultra pure level for agricultural use.
These two technologies alone could prevent, or at least postpone, another Cape Town-like crisis.
On average, countries use 70% of their fresh water to grow food.
Adopting drip irrigation, as Israel has, could reduce those percentages significantly.
Israel prioritizes keeping leaks to a minimum by fixing pipes or by replacing them before they require emergency repairs.
The country’s water loss is now below 10% due to the use of algorithms that predict where leaks will occur, underground pipe repair tools, and a sonar-like system that pinpoints the locations of tiny leaks that have the potential to grow larger.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor for April 17 released April 19, powerful spring storm emerged from the West and brought extreme conditions to several regions.
Meanwhile, dry, windy weather contributed to a major wildfire outbreak, starting on April 12, and led to blowing dust and further reductions in rangeland, pasture, and crop conditions.
Farther east, heavy showers and locally severe thunderstorms swept across portions of the southern and eastern U.S.
Elsewhere, unsettled, showery weather lingered in the Northwest, extending as far south as northern California.
In the High Plains, heavy snow blanketed portions of the northern Plains, while dry, windy weather dominated drought-affected areas of the central Plains.
The storm contributed to the elimination of severe drought (D2) from the Dakotas and brought substantial reductions in the coverage of abnormal dryness (D0) and moderate drought (D1).
In South Dakota, 2-day April snowfall records were broken on April 13-14 in Mitchell (16.2 inches) and Huron (15.5 inches), while peak gusts were clocked to 60 and 57 mph, respectively.
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, received 14.5 inches of snow from April 13-15, and reported a gust to 67 mph on the 14th.
Most of Sioux Falls’ snow—13.7 inches—fell on the 14th, easily becoming the snowiest April day on record in that location (previously, 10.5 inches on April 28, 1994).
On the same date, winter wheat in Kansas was rated 46 percent very poor to poor.

Posted by Mark Brusberg, Chief Meteorologist, Office of the Chief Economist, World Agricultural Outlook Board and Rachel Steele, USDA National Climate Hubs Coordinator in Climate Even before the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s, agricultural producers have recognized the economic and emotional devastation that drought can cause.
Recently, the focus has shifted from dealing with drought as an unexpected hazard, to more proactive planning for the inevitability of drought.
One of the tools available to producers is the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), a weekly map of drought conditions produced jointly by the USDA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Established in 1999, many sectors use the Drought Monitor.
The USDA uses the map to distribute drought relief funds to agricultural producers, through programs such as the Livestock Forage Program (LFP).
Shortly after its release, USDA began using the Drought Monitor as a trigger for several of its programs.
In fact, the 2008 and 2014 versions of the Farm Bill mandate the use of the Drought Monitor to identify areas available for LFP relief and to calculate the level of support available to ranchers, leading to delivery of more than $6 billion for that program alone.
In recent years, the USDA and NDMC have made the Drought Monitor and its companion products more useful to the public, including the addition of a Spanish-language version, data on regional drought impacts, and improvements to tools like the Drought Impact Reporter and an eligibility calculator for the LFP.
To allay concerns, the NDMC has developed a series of workshops in partnership with USDA’s Climate Hubs, 10 centers around the country which link USDA research and program agencies to deliver timely and authoritative resources to agricultural producers and professionals.
In this way, USDA field personnel can help the public identify when they may be eligible for drought relief programs, provide them with information on weather and climate patterns common to their region, and recommend steps to mitigate the impacts of weather and climate extremes.

The storm, which produced 1- to 3-inch rainfall totals in many areas, resulted in a reduction in the coverage of abnormal dryness (D0) and moderate drought (D1) in the northern Mid-Atlantic region.
For example, there was a slight increase in coverage of moderate and severe drought (D1 and D2) in southern Florida, while D2 persisted in many areas along and near the Atlantic Coast in Georgia and South Carolina.
South A sharp line between no drought and moderate to exceptional drought (D1 to D4) continued to slice across Oklahoma and Texas.
On April 15, topsoil moisture was rated 72% very short in Oklahoma, along with 66% in Texas.
Midwest A major, late-season storm dumped heavy snow across much of the northern half of the region, sharply reducing the coverage of abnormal dryness (D0).
In Wisconsin, April 13-16 storm-total snowfall included 24.2 inches in Green Bay and 20.7 inches in Wausau.
In both locations, it was the biggest April storm (previously, 11.0 inches in Green Bay on April 4-5, 1977, and 12.1 inches in Wausau on April 15-16, 1993) and the second-highest event total on record.
High Plains Heavy snow also blanketed portions of the northern Plains, while dry, windy weather dominated drought-affected areas of the central Plains.
A more significant storm will traverse the West and produce heavy snow in the central Rockies before crossing the Plains on Friday.
Precipitation totals associated with the storm will be variable, but some drought-stricken areas of the central and southern Plains could receive as much as 0.5 to 2.0 inches of rain.

“It’s getting to be a real issue,” said Herschel George, a K-State Research and Extension watershed specialist based in eastern Kansas.
“Here in eastern Kansas, our ponds are still relatively full, but as I talk to anyone in the Flint Hills, from Topeka and anywhere further west, it’s just a disaster situation waiting to happen.” George and other Kansas State University specialists have developed various common-sense approaches, many of them outlined in the publication, ‘Waterers and Watering Systems: A Handbook for Livestock Producers and Landowners.’ It’s available online at https://www.bookstore.ksre.k-state.edu/pubs/S147.pdf.
“I know out in central and western Kansas, solar pumps are being used more and more,” he said.
“The systems are available and they’re working well.
“We have a number of people that have gone ahead and put in a connection to rural water that may be passing by their farm, and installing a water tank,” George said, especially in low water times or drought situations.
Number two, it’s a water quality issue and you can actually get better quality water for your livestock if you have a tank downhill from the pond.” For ponds that are already dried out, George said one alternative may be to clean it out, though it is typically a costly process.
“Ideally you’d say, ‘well let’s just build a new pond instead of clean that one out,’ but in most of the cases the best sites for the pond were already taken with the first pond, so where are you going to put the second one?” George said.
At 20 hours of work, that’s about $6,000 just for moving the “slop and muck” out of the pond.
That means installing a watering line from the pond that falls at least six feet from the full water level in the pond to the watering site.
“I often encourage producers to go ahead and get that water line from their livestock water site back up to where they cut the slot in the dam (of the pond) installed early, because if not you’re likely to have 2-3 foot of mud sitting on top of where you’re going to want to build that water line,” George said.