4/12 Drought Monitor; 44% Of KS Winter Wheat Poor/Very Poor; Soils Dry Up To 3' Down In North TX

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South

Like last week (and many other recent weeks), significant precipitation fell mainly on non-drought areas of Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, and eastern sections of Oklahoma and Texas, and bypassed the drought in western Texas and Oklahoma. With the early October rains falling out of the most recent 6-month period, SPIs plunged to D3 and D4 levels across northern new Mexico, northern Texas, western Oklahoma, southern Colorado, and southwest Kansas. The early October rains seemed like a long-faded memory as most non-irrigated winter wheat fields and pastures in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma were in very poor or dead condition. According to NASS/USDA April 8 reports, 61%, 57%, 44%, and 19% of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado winter wheat was in poor or very poor condition, respectively, and 41%, 40%, 37%, and 26% of Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas pastures and ranges were in similar condition (Kansas N/A). In parts of northern Texas, soils were dry down to 1-3 feet, whereas other locations were dry in the upper 12-18 inches, and Level 2 water restrictions were in place for Canyon, TX. While some areas benefited from the early October rains and were kept at D3, D4 was expanded into northeastern New Mexico, northern Texas,, western Oklahoma, and southwestern Kansas where the impacts matched the indices. In contrast, with additional light rains in central and southern Texas, plus heavier rains from last week, minor adjustments (mostly improvements) were made to the D0-D2 areas, except for some D2 expansion north of Del Rio that missed out on the rains during the past 2 weeks. In southern Louisiana, light showers (0.5-1.5 inches) fell on the D0 area, but the heaviest rains fell north and south (offshore), thus no changes were made.

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High Plains

Another week of light precipitation (snow) and subnormal temperatures enveloped the northern Plains, with some heavier amounts (0.5-1 inch) falling on northern and eastern South Dakota and the Black Hills. In east-central South Dakota, 4-8 inches of snow fell from Aberdeen southeastward past Watertown, and with this moisture, a slight D0 removal was made where indices out to 6-months were wet, and since this D0 was short-term, it was easier to justify its removal; however, the D0 was kept where frost depths were deeper (down to 2-4 feet) in the northeast. After several weeks of gradual improvements in eastern Montana and the western Dakotas, no changes were made this week as precipitation was lighter. In northern Colorado, some decent precipitation fell on the central Rockies, finally allowing for some small 1-category improvements in northwestern and north-central sections of the state as WYTD indicators climbed above various D0-D2 percentile thresholds. Farther south, similar to other south-central Plain states, Kansas saw little or no precipitation (less than 0.25 inches) as not only short-term indices (6-months or less) but also longer-term tools (9- and 12-months) indicated drier conditions than depicted. Accordingly, the D4, D3, D2, and D1 borders were slightly extended northward to reflect the severe conditions and growing deficits (8-14 inches at 12-months in central Kansas). The April 8 NASS/USDA winter wheat rating for Kansas stood at 44% in poor or very poor condition, with Kansas the top state for winter wheat production. No changes were made between the border of Nebraska and Kansas as a few extra snow events this year across this area have contributed enough moisture to prevent deterioration, at least for now.

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In contrast, another week of disappointing dry and warm weather in the Southwest led to additional deterioration. In southern California, after reassessing reservoir conditions at Lakes Cachuma, Casitas, and Piru in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, the earlier March rains did little to increase their levels, thus D2 was returned to those counties. While higher terrains in California’s Owen Valley and eastward into Nevada did fairly well with March storms, the lower elevations did not, and when combined with a poor fall and winter, D1conditions were expanded into southern Nevada. In addition, D2 was increased in east-central Colorado with 6-month SPIs between -1 and -2.5. D3 now covered southeastern Utah, southwest Colorado, and central New Mexico as another dry and warm week dropped WYTD basin average precipitation to 50, 43, and 19-27% of normal, respectively, while the mountain snows have completely melted in eastern Arizona and most of New Mexico (0% SWE). In southeastern Utah and northeastern Arizona, D4 areas were added to reflect both the poor winter conditions and the weak and early ending summer monsoon of last year (12-month indices at D4). In northeastern New Mexico, D4 was extended into Union and Colfax counties as near- or record dry 6-month precipitation, above-normal temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds combined to produce very poor irrigated winter wheat, along with bare, dead, or very poor pasture and range conditions according to field observations.

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http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/