Light Snow Most Expected For Plains Grains As February Starts; Not Nearly Enough To Help

[hatrack]

Light snow expected next week in crop growing areas of the United States will provide only minor relief from the worst drought in more than 50 years, an agricultural meteorologist said Friday.

Crop-killing drought deepened in Kansas over the last week, further jeopardizing this season's production of the important winter wheat crop. Kansas is generally the top U.S. wheat-growing state, but the new crop planted last fall has been struggling with a lack of soil moisture.

Without rain and/or heavy snow before spring, millions of acres of wheat could be ruined, meteorologists said. A climatology report issued on Thursday said there were no signs of improvement for Kansas or neighboring farm states.

Agricultural meteorologist Joel Widenor of the Commodity Weather Group said Friday that light snow in the eastern part of the Midwest region and expected snow next week for parts of the Plains, Midwest and Delta would be too light for notable drought relief.

EDIT

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100408461

[MuseRider]

1. We just finished our big "rain event"

and got a whopping 0.05 inches of rain. It is about as much as we ever get these days when we have our BIG rain events. Not looking good at all.

[Frustratedlady]

2. We had a light layer of ice, this morning and it is "raining" now.

Our rains have been light drizzles and we have only had 6-8" of snow all winter. Someone said a month or so ago that we needed 18" of rain to catch up. That would be a ton of snow, if it were cool enough. I believe on Tuesday, we are to almost hit 60 degrees.

As much as I'd hate to see it, we need some zero temps and a ton of snow.

[MuseRider]

3. I would hate to see it too but like you

we need it. It has been cold off and on here, not like it used but more cold time than we had last year I believe. I think we had about 3 inches of snow so far, still more than last year. Here on the farm last year we had so little snow you could barely see it when it came the one single time it snowed.

Going to be 60's today, was 50's yesterday and almost 70 tomorrow. Then back down to the 30's for a couple of days then the trend back up again. The dust storms are starting, be prepared. I don't know where you are but here in NE Kansas I am seeing dust, not big dust yet but they are getting it to our SouthWest.

Hoping for spring rain. We got it last year, not nearly enough but enough to keep the farm with some green grass at harvest.

[Frustratedlady]

4. SE Iowa.

All last year, you could watch the storms approaching, then when it got to my area, it split and part went over and part went under. It has become a joke.

At least this rain is light enough that it should soak in, rather than run down the sewers. I think it's to rain tomorrow, as well, so we may be able to get close to an inch. Not saying much, eh?

Dust storms have got to be awful. We don't get them here, except for some areas that are sandy ground, but that is seldom. I've seen photos that are frightening. Good luck in avoiding them.

[MuseRider]

6. LOL

We have the same joke! Here they go East and West of us. Very hard to watch when you are so dry. We are in extreme drought here, for a long time my county was excluded from that but we live in the very Southern part of the county and got less than half the rain they were getting only a few miles North of us. It is odd when you watch a pattern like that develop. It has been that way for us for the last two years. Hoping it changes but so far not so good.

Good luck to you. We are all in the together.

[RetroGamer1971]

5. Downpour in Phoenix! More rain than we usually get in 3 months!

Ironically we are getting over an inch of rain a day here in Phoenix, it is breaking records here.

"The storm that dropped record amounts of rain and knocked out power throughout the Valley on Saturday is expected to continue to a lesser extent today, and meteorologists expect another round of showers on Monday.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport reported about 1.06 inches of rain Saturday, shattering the record of 0.43 inch set on the same date in 1985. Tucson International Airport also broke a record with 0.71 inch, according to the National Weather Service."

http://www.azcentral.com/weather/articles/20130126phoenix-rain-storms-arizona-brk.html

[pscot]

7. The long range forecast

Is for above average temps and average precip on the plains and in the Midwest this year. These are definitely more reliable that the I-Ching.

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/two_class.php

[OnlinePoker]

8. There was a good documentary about the Dust Bowl on PBS last year

It was called "Surviving the Great Depression" and showed the folly of trusting that it will rain on the plains. Droughts happened all the time but people seem to think once the rains come back, that the drought was just an aberration. There have been decadal and even 100 year droughts in the past. The difference this time is people keep moving to these areas, knowing there is no excess water. They rape the acquifers and when that runs out, they demand the government divert rivers to their parched regions. Since farming practices haven't changed, you can expect this to happen again and may be happening now.