Drought worsened in Nebraska last week, bringing severe drought conditions to Lancaster County for the first time in a decade.
The latest Drought Monitor from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, released on Thursday, showed 45% of the state is now in extreme drought or worse, including the western half of Lancaster County and part of Lincoln.
The last time any part of Lancaster County was in extreme drought was in April 2013, at the tail end of the 2012-13 drought, which is one of the worst in the state's history.
Drought conditions had been improving in much of Nebraska over the winter and early spring, with the percentage of extreme drought falling by more than half and areas of exceptional drought declining by more than two-thirds. But that decline has been halted.
While areas of moderate and severe drought remained fairly steady last week, extreme drought jumped from less than 29% of the state to more than 45%, while the area of exceptional drought grew from about 5.1% to 6.3%.
Most of that expansion came in eastern Nebraska, which has largely missed out on spring rains.
Lincoln, for example, received only 0.59 inches of rain in April, 2.1 inches below normal. Since the start of March, the city has a precipitation deficit of just over 3 inches, and it is 2 inches below normal for the year so far.
That comes after less than 20 inches of rain fell in Lincoln in 2022, making it the third-driest in the past 45 years and the 15th-driest in recorded history.
Things are worse in northeast Nebraska, which has several counties experiencing exceptional drought. Columbus and Norfolk are well below average for precipitation so far this year.
In Merrick County, to the west of Columbus, conditions are as dry as they’ve ever been, said Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue.
“With the stuff that I’m planting now, I don’t think I probably have enough moisture to germinate the seed,” said McHargue, who was planting corn on Thursday.
While irrigation certainly helps crops grow in periods of drought, it comes at significant cost to farmers. Irrigation costs depend on the area and the amount of moisture already present in the soil, but he said that each use of an irrigator typically can cost at least $1,000.
The long drought has compounded the difficulty for farmers this year. Last year, there was moisture in the subsoil, but that’s not the case this year, said Nebraska Extension Educator Jenny Rees. That dryness has made for shallower roots and sometimes makes it impossible for farmers to even get their planters in the ground “because the ground is so hard.”
Source: journalstar.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-neenawat555
Categories: Nebraska, Weather