April 2

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dn 10 the

For better or worse

Home is where the Bonehart is

DN reporters debate whether NU football is a top-tier program

Local musician finds inspiration, comfort at home

dailynebraskan.com

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tuesday, april 2, 2013 volume 112, issue 128

make it

rain region remains in urgent need of spring showers

story by jacy marmaduke

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orget the May flowers. Meteorologists and drought experts say heavier-than-usual April showers could alleviate the drought that’s plagued Nebraska for nearly two years now. Emerging from the 29th coldest winter on record, Nebraska is running out of subsoil moisture and time. Lincoln’s garnered 6.96 inches of precipitation since Oct. 1, according to the National Weather Service — just 0.02 inches below normal levels. But precipitation doesn’t mean much when it falls on frozen ground, said meteorologist Josh Boustead of the National Weather Service in Valley. And much of the precipitation came in the form of snow. Meteorologists measure about 1 inch of liquid precipitation for every 10 to 12 inches of snow, once it melts. The region needs 3 to 9 inches more precipitation than the monthly average, spread across the spring, to gain a break from the drought. “We’re gonna get rain in the spring, but we need more than that,” said Van DeWald, lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Valley. Mark Svoboda, a climatologist and leader at the National Drought Mitigation Center on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus, said this season has been disappointing. “We were really hoping to see a much wetter, cooler fall and winter,” he said. “We’ve pretty much exhausted the bank coming into 2013. So we’re not gonna have that to rely on. We’re gonna be living rain-to-rain, unless we get a good spring.” The drought finds its roots in the dry fall and winter seasons of 201112, which were followed by a scorching 2012 summer. Altogether, the seasons put a strain on Nebraska’s water reservoirs, allowing for little chance of recharge. In Svoboda’s words, Mother Nature hasn’t had “a chance to catch her breath.” The winter’s snowfalls, starting with a heavy blanketing just before Christmas and persisting sporadically through March, aided the landscape. Now that soil has thawed, melting snow can provide some needed moisture. But the snowfall, although helpful, wasn’t a solution. John Hansen, president of Nebraska Farmers Union, put it this way: “The meteorologist that spoke at our state convention said in order to get back to some semblance of normal soil moisture, we would need about 15 feet of snow. So we’re about 13 and a half feet short.” If rain doesn’t come soon, the drought’s effects – strained municipal water supply, overgrazed pastures and dried-out crops – will hit harder and faster, Svoboda warned.

NICKOLAI HAMMAR | DN

above: Yankee Hill Brick Company is dusted with a light snowfall earlier in 2013. Snowfall in Lincoln gave UNL one snow day while the University of Kansas was hit harder with consecutive snow days in early 2013. left: A student shovels snow near a fraternity house on Feb. 21. during UNL’s snow day. Lincoln received 4.6 inches of snow in Winter Storm “Q,” which was much less than expected by weather forecasters. MORGAN SPIEHS | DN

weather: see page 3

2012-2013 NEBRASKA WINTER TIMELINE FEB. 1

Coldest day of 2013: -1 degrees Fahrenheit

DEC.

JAN. DEC. 19

First major snowfall: 4.5 inches matt masin | DN

Mallards fly in and out of the water at Holmes Lake on Monday. With rising temperatures, birds of all kinds are returning north and enjoying the sun and warmer water.

FEB.

MARCH

FEB. 1

MARCH 11

Winter Storm Q shuts down the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: 4.6 inches

Greatest snowfall: 5.5 inches

Modern Languages & Literatures Fair celebrates language Staff report DN The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Modern Languages and Literatures will host its 37th annual Language Fair Tuesday in the Nebraska Union. The fair, which typically draws more than 1,000 high school students from across the state to compete in foreign language challenges, runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. “It’s all about getting kids here

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on campus and having their work judged in front of college professors and getting them to think about furthering their education in modern language,” said Shannon Parry, the language fair ’s coordinator, who has helped organize the annual fair since 2004. “When the department first organized the program, they asked, ‘What is a way that we can serve the community and allow students to express themselves in the languages they’re learning?’”

she said. And so the students compete in language challenges, which are organized into two levels. The level one category represents students who have taken one or two years of language study. In the level two category are the students who have taken three or four years of language study. All Lincoln high schools are signed up to participate in the fair, as well as schools in Omaha

and more rural parts of Nebraska, Parry said. In the past five years, the department decided to include events in the fair that specifically target Spanish heritage speakers. Spanish heritage speakers are students that grew up in their home speaking Spanish with their families, but lack writing and grammar skills, Parry said. “It’d be like you speaking English, but no one ever teaching you how to read or write it,” she

said. “This encourages heritage speakers to learn the mechanics of their language.” These high school students come to the fair with knowledge in various languages, including: Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Japanese and Russian, according to Parry. Students can compete in five different categories: drama, folk dance, music, poetry and poster. In each event, a top performance (first place) and an honor-

more Inside Coverage:

Facebook only casts ripples of protest Supporting LGBTQ people goes beyond a simple profile picture

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Spring in the air DN photographers capture essence of spring weather

@dailyneb | facebook.com/dailynebraskan

able mention (second place) will be awarded. Students who choose not to compete have an opportunity to take dance lessons offered by the UNL International Folk Dancers. The fair also offers language and culture mini-lessons for each of the competition languages, as well as Czech, Swahili, Portuguese and Arabic. For those students who attend

fair: see page 3


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