Drought nearly over in eastern and central Nebraska, but still severe in the Panhandle

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By ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star

If you’re a farmer near Mead, drought is the last thing on your mind these days.

The soil is so saturated with moisture that it can’t hold much more, said state climatologist Al Dutcher. In some places, he said, farmers are using all-terrain vehicles to get around in their fields and they are getting mired in mud.

The soil is pretty wet in central Nebraska, too, especially in the Kearney area. Farmers there are anxious about wet fields because they are delaying spring planting.

But in western Nebraska, it’s a totally different story. After eight consecutive years, drought has become a way of life.

The state’s Panhandle region is extremely dry, with less than 2 inches of  moisture in the ground near Scottsbluff. It’s so dry it’s causing dust storms in some places.

Irrigation reservoirs like Lake McConaughy are reaching historic low levels. Currently, the water level at McConaughy is 4 feet below  what it was last year at this time.

Dutcher said there are also some serious groundwater declines in heavily irrigated central Nebraska that cause some concern.

And emergency officials are preparing themselves for another wildfire season, maybe as bad as the one in 2006.

The governor’s Climate Assessment Response Committee,  which held its first meeting of the year Tuesday in Lincoln, received an update from Dutcher and other drought experts.

What they didn’t hear was that the drought was over.

In an interview, Dutcher said he’s not ready to make an end-of-drought proclamation just yet and he won’t until the reservoirs and stock ponds are full. But in some locations, he said, it’s close.

“Soil moisture-wise — for the eastern part of the state — it’s better than the spring of 1999,” Dutcher said. That’s when the first drought conditions appeared in Southeast Nebraska near Falls City.

Timely rains last fall and a series of snowstorms earlier this year have greatly improved drought conditions in central and eastern Nebraska.

“Forty-eight percent of Nebraska is not experiencing any kind of dryness or drought right now,” said Michael Hayes with the National Drought Mitigation Center based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Hayes told committee members that many people believe the western part of the United States has had a lot of snow this winter.  But, actually,  he said, much of the western U.S. has had below normal snowfalls and lately it’s been very warm, causing snow to melt and run off faster.

 “Really, there’s not a whole lot of snow out there,” he added.

 Snowpack in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming is important because it helps to fill Nebraska’s reservoirs and rivers.

But Hayes said there’s still time to get more snow, even a major snowstorm or two. March and April are the biggest snowfall months for Colorado, Wyoming and other mountain states, Hayes said.

Reservoirs in the Missouri River Basin are very low and officials are monitoring them carefully. Those in the Republican River Basin have improved a little over the winter thanks to some unexpected flows in February, he said.

A series of storm systems moving into Nebraska in the next week and a half could help improve the drought in western Nebraska.

“Unfortunately, if they get moisture, somebody in the eastern part of the state is going to get hurt,” Dutcher said, referring to the fact that they don’t need any more moisture.

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at (402) 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.