NEWS
THE WESTERN PRODUCER | WWW.PRODUCER.COM | OCTOBER 2O, 2011
U.S. WEATHER | FORECAST
Texas welcomes timely rain but conditions remain dire The longer-term outlook is not looking favourable, says a U.S. climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — (Reuters) — Relief in the form of raindrops helped shrink the mass of drought-stricken areas in Texas earlier this month, but much more rain is needed to turn back the historic dry spell, according to a national drought report issued last week. Farmers rushed back into fields to seed winter wheat, and thirsty cattle enjoyed the respite from what has been months of little to no rain and hot temperatures. From 20 to 175 millimetres of rain were recorded from central Texas northward through Kansas. Still, much more rain is needed to even approach normal conditions, climatologists said. Some areas remain 300 mm short of normal rainfall. “It did help,” said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. “That moisture is going to do a lot to settle the dust ... getting some relief to some areas that have suffered for a long time. But even with this rain, in some of these areas record dryness still prevails.” Rain tames the dangers of wildfires and improves rangeland and also provides the soil moisture wheat farmers have been waiting for to help germinate young winter wheat. While many farmers had already “dusted in” seed, others were hoping for rain before they planted. Now those farmers are busy in their fields. “It was a nice rain,” said Texas A&M agronomist Travis Miller. “It ranged all over the map, but a lot of our wheat country was covered by an inch and a half to five inches (25 to 44 mm) of rain. It was very timely.” Texas has suffered more than $5 billion in agricultural losses, and more than 23,000 separate wildfires have destroyed 3.8 million acres in the state’s longest one-year period on record. About 92 percent of the state was considered in extreme or exceptional drought, the highest levels reported, but that was down from 97 percent a week earlier. Exceptional drought, which is the worst level of drought, fell to 73.13 percent of Texas from 87.99 percent of the state. Oklahoma has also seen an improvement, with the level of exceptional drought dropping to 59.10 percent from 69.82 percent of the state. New Mexico and Arizona also saw drought levels mitigated. However, Louisiana actually saw drought areas expand, with more than a third of that state now in extreme or exceptional drought, the report said. The National Weather Service said forecasts for Oct. 18-22 call for drierthan-normal conditions from the Pacific Coast to the southern Plains, while wetter-than-normal weather is expected across the Midwest, Southeast, and northern Plains. “The longer-term outlook is not looking favourable,” said Fuchs.
92%
OF TEXAS IS IN EXTREME OR EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT
For the
Ultimate
Burndown.
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