The Cattleman Update

Light rain (less than 0.5 inch) was limited to northern and eastern Oklahoma and parts of central Texas. In Oklahoma, where at least 0.5 inches fell, no changes were made. Farther west, however, another dry week in the Panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas have effectively overcome the short-term moisture from the winter and has reverted back to impacts consistent with the long-term shortages. Some summer planting is being skipped, and cattle are being sold off. As a result, some degradations were made in the southern High Plains, including a significant increase in Extreme (D3) and Exceptional (D4) drought. In parts of coastal Texas that received substantial rains last week, the streams were still sustaining their flows, thus additional improvements were made from Corpus Christi to Galveston. more…

After last week’s beneficial precipitation, some amounts from that storm figured into this week’s totals since it fell after the April 9 cutoff. In addition, a second storm system added to this week’s totals, allowing for another decent week in much of the Plains with respect to precipitation and drought improvements. The lone exception was Texas, where only the north-central and extreme eastern sections received decent (more than 0.5 inches) rain. more…

Precipitation totals exceeding one inch were widespread from northeastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana northward. Some of the northern reaches of this area, extending as far south as central Arkansas and east-central Oklahoma, measured 2 to 4 inches of rain. As a result, drought classifications improved in several areas, which were generally in the D0 to D2 range last week. Elsewhere, most locations in the central Plains received anywhere from a few tenths of an inch to slightly over an inch while only isolated measurable precipitation was reported in central and southern Texas, the High Plains, and the northern Great Plains. more…

In Texas, little if any precipitation during the past week resulted in lots of small-scale adjustments to the drought depiction. Six-month DNPs are on the order of 8-16 inches in much of eastern Texas. These deficits, and the fact that reservoirs in most of this area recharged during 2012, resulted in a new, short-term impact area designation for this region. In far northwestern Oklahoma, the two separate Severe Drought areas were combined into one, and expanded slightly to the southeast. In the far western Panhandle region, Cimarron County in particular, is experiencing widespread winter wheat and native grass loss. There were some reports of similar, if not worse, conditions occurring across the Colorado border in Baca County. more…

Most of the changes to the southern Great Plains were increased in the drought coverage and intensity across Texas. The Office of the State Climatologist for Texas reported that February as a whole was largely drier than January, and evidence of this can be seen as the 2 and 6-month SPI blend time scales tend toward drier values. The reservoir situation continues to be poor—while the eastern half of the state is comparatively well-off, west Texas continues to suffer, contributing to the persisting record-low reservoir conservation storage. Southern Texas was especially dry, with single digit relative humidity values and high winds prompting an expansion of all drought categories across this region. The lone area of improvement (reducing the intensity of drought) was made to the Panhandle of Oklahoma. Precipitation has been above normal for the past 30 and 60 days, with a significant rain event last week. Minimal improvement was measured in local soil moisture, so D3 (extreme drought) was retained for Cimarron County. more…