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MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... July 24, 2012 July 24, 2012 July 24, 2012 July 24, 2012 Oklahoma's drought indicators sinking fast The latest topsoil moisture and range/pastureland numbers from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service are out and they ain't pretty. I'll show you the maps, but Oklahoma's topsoil moisture is now rated as some of the worst in the country at 96% poor/very poor. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120724/july22-topsoil.png Only Missouri, Indiana and Iowa are worse (there's a joke there but I won't say it...we're all in this together!). And Oklahoma's 96% is up from only 60% a mere month ago. Again, evidence of the "flashy" nature of this drought. The pasture/rangeland figures aren't quite as bad, but they are worsening rapidly. Now only 10% of the state's pastures are rated as good/excellent. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120724/july22-good-pastures.png An alternate view is the 52% of pastures rated as poor/very poor. That's up from 17% a month ago. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120724/july22-poor-pastures.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120627/June24-pasture.rangeland.png Those are pure flash drought characteristics right there. Just looking at those maps and the accelerating deterioration they demonstrate, you can see why agriculture is in trouble with this drought. Here are a couple of more maps, using the U.S. Drought Monitor depiction from last week, showing the country's primary cattle and hay production areas are under drought's gun. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120724/cattle_drought.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120724/hay_drought.png And that red-hatched drought area is more likely to expand this week than contract. For those reading ahead, that's 77% of the nation's cattle inventory and 66% of the hay acreage under drought of some degree of severity. Remember, we showed corn a couple of weeks ago. At that point, 78% of the corn grown in the U.S. was under drought conditions. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120713/corn-drought.jpg Well, the good news is the chance for rain is back in the forecast in a nice way. It doesn't look like a washout, but it might not be trivial in some spots either. This might be wishful thinking, but here's the 5-day rain forecast amounts from the NWS' Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120724/5-day-rain.gif That moisture, if realized, will help keep the temperatures down for awhile as the dreaded heat dome will be back over place this weekend into next week for some unknown duration. I won't lie to ya, however. Without reinforcing rainfall, that moisture will be used up pretty quickly. The burn bans continue to multiply as the heat and drought continue to plow forward, now up to 38 counties. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20120724/BurnBanMap07192012.gif Don't shoot the messenger (unless it's with a water gun)! Gary McManus Associate State Climatologist Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253 gmcmanus@mesonet.org ================================================== The OCS/Mesonet Ticker https://ticker.mesonet.org/ To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Ticker or for questions about the Ticker or its content Phone or Email the Ticker Manager at OCS Phone: 405-325-2253 Email: ticker@mesonet.org --------------------------------------------------- -C- Copyright 2024 Oklahoma Climatological Survey ===================================================