Mesonet Ticker for May 12, 2026

                
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The destruction of the Oklahoma wheat crop




I don't know who designs these droughts to almost perfectly mirror the life cycle
of the winter wheat crop. Probably the same entity that decided Strawberry Pop-
Tarts were a good idea. Or a 4-way traffic stop! But here we are anyway.

The top graphic is pretty self-explanatory...take last year's diminishing
drought and look at the relative greenness at the time, vs. this year's
intensifying and downright nasty drought and the current state of our vegetation.

Unfortunately, the eastern edge of that pitiful vegetation condition coincides
almost perfectly with Oklahoma's primary winter wheat belt, as you can see
depicted here.



Certainly not the only area that grows winter wheat in the state, but that's the
area of most production. In early to mid-May, winter wheat across much of western
Oklahoma would normally still be fairly green, especially if it has decent soil
moisture and has not been pushed into early stress. This is before it turns
into that magnificent gold color as it ripens for harvest.

The damage to the crop (and all vegetation across that part of the state) is
also visible from space by other satellite-derived products.





So a month from now, IF the drought wasn't there and the crop and other
vegetation were healthy, it would be a ribbon of gold in a sea of green, like
last year. Also a great representation of Oklahoma's primary winter wheat crop.



And those satellite-derived maps also show that despite being green, nearly all
of the state's vegetation is stressed by the drought to some degree.

Here you can see how the drought has intensified since the beginning of the
water year, which runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, so how has the Drought
Monitor changed since Oct. 1, 2025.



And the departure from normal and percent of normal rainfall maps from the
Mesonet tell the same story.





Sorry, but that's no way to run a winter wheat crop. Do better, Mother Nature.

Gary McManus
State Climatologist
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climate Survey
gmcmanus@ou.edu
                

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