Lincoln area and most of the state soaked in May
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
By ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star
Mosquitoes are happy.
Car washes?
Not that happy.
Lincoln just had its eighth wettest May since the late 1800s, according to the National Weather Service office in Valley.
The rainfall total for May was 8.13 inches — 3.9 inches above normal.Lincoln’s wettest May on record was 1903 with 10.72 inches.
Omaha just had its second wettest May, the weather service said, with 10.57 inches. That city’s wettest May on record occurred in 1883, when 11.29 inches fell.
“May has been above normal for almost all of the state,” said meteorologist Rick Chermok.
The only exception? The Panhandle, which missed a lot of the heavy rains, he said.
Scottsbluff reported 1.09 inches of rainfall for May, 1.61 inches below normal.
“Pretty much everybody’s been above normal. It’s been exceptionally wet and that follows a very wet April,” said state climatologist Al Dutcher.
If there were doubts about the drought being over, spring rains have washed them away.
“I don’t think we are entertaining any thoughts of drought east of the Panhandle,” Dutcher said.
Instead, floods are on people’s minds now.
Part of Hayes County, for example, had a rainfall total of nearly 18 inches Monday and Tuesday, washing out roads and causing other flood problems.
About 8 inches fell in the Broken Bow area on Tuesday.
Most rivers and streams east of North Platte are running very full, Dutcher said.
“Some areas of the Loup River have had record- to near-record daily flow rates,” he said.
The heavy rains have helped fill Harlan County Reservoir east of McCook to about 66 percent of capacity, but they’ve done little to help Lake McConaughy, the state’s largest reservoir near Ogallala.
“The only positive we’ve seen (for McConaughy) is normal and above-normal precipitation in the upper reaches of the Platte River system in Wyoming,” Dutcher said. “We will need that throughout the summer to alleviate some of the demand on water by irrigators.”
Re-filling McConaughy — now at 39 percent of capacity — will take a long time, Dutcher said. Very wet conditions this fall and winter would help recharge the man-made reservoir.
May was also cool. Lincoln’s average temperature was 65.9 degrees, or 3.9 inches below normal, according to the weather service.
Higher temperatures would help dry saturated soils and keep the corn crop from “yellowing out” in some parts of the state, Dutcher said.
With all of the recent rain, there’s potential for a tremendous corn crop this year, Dutcher said, but if the rains continue the excess moisture could lower yields.
More rain is in the forecast for today and Sunday and there’s a slight chance of showers in the middle of next week.
Forecasts for the next two weeks show above-normal precipitation for Southeast Nebraska and some other areas of the state.
“My feeling is — based on what we have seen — we could get our monthly total without a blink of an eye,” Dutcher said.
Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 402-473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.
Post Your Comment
Standards and RulesYour posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.