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.

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