Ticker for March 8, 2013

                
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March 8, 2013      March 8, 2013      March 8, 2013      March 8, 2013


The little pond that still can't

Come and listen to a story about a little pond,
A poor body of water, of which I'm very fond,
Then one year it was drained by a drought,
And now it's recovery seems to be in doubt.

Water that is, H20, aqua.

Okay, pretty weak, but so was the sight of my favorite little farm pond south of
Buffalo. The pond where I grew up fishing, running and gazing at nature. This
spring-fed body of water had never been dry in 40 years prior to the current
two-plus drought episode, surviving the 1995-96, 2001-2 and 2005-6 droughts. But
it finally met it's maker with the 2010-13 version.

Here's a jaunt back over the last four years, starting with May 2009, about a
month after a blizzard buried northwestern Oklahoma with as much as 26 inches of
snow. Never had it looked this green when the picture was snapped.



Following that, you can track the drought's progress by the declining levels
of the pond.








I don't know why I thought it would look different when I stopped by on my
way to a drought forum in Guymon on Wednesday. Irrational exuberance is the
popular term these days, I guess. Or maybe it was all snow I saw as I drove
through Woodward, Ft. Supply and on to Buffalo. Recent radar estimates showed
that the area had received at least 3 inches of rain in the last 30 days.



Unfortunately, with most of that coming as snow falling on very thirsty soils,
there probably wasn't a lot left to runoff into the pond.

But then I took a look back at the rainfall since Oct. 1, 2012. A bit of an
underestimate due to the snow, but 3.2 inches just ain't gonna fill a pond.




Okay, drum roll, please!!!!

Okay, shut up, drummers!

Here's the brand new pic of the "Little pond that couldn't" fresh off the
presses.



WHOO-HOO! Install the diving board! Get out the bass boat! Hey, at least you
can still see snow, and even a few cow patties. That there is water was not
shocking. I'm not sure how much of it was from the recent precipitation, or how
much was the normal occurrence of the spring starting to run again during the
winter. I'm guessing the former, but this is another reminder that a lot of
the state, especially western Oklahoma, has a long way to go to recover from
this drought.

First it has to end, of course. The long-term damage will continue to be
assessed long after that. Here's another picture I took on my jaunt out to the
pond. This is of the buffalo grass (just a coincidence ... a large part of the
High Plains is covered by buffalo grass) in a protected spot where there was
not a lot of signs of being trampled by cattle.



The color is not that alarming since it has been cool the last half of February.
I didn't expect it to be green like it was last year at this time. But what is
distressing is the large amount of dirt showing through the crowns of the
grass. That's a sign of that native pasture dying off from the stress of the
drought. That's a common refrain we hear from ag folks across the state, but
again, especially from western Oklahoma.

Will we see much drought relief this weekend? Well, that storm has weakened,
but it still looks like we could see a quarter-inch to an inch across the
state.



Looks like after that, we might be in for another week or so before we see a
good chance of rain again, and the heat might be coming back as well.




Looks like we may have to stick with the cement pond for a little while longer.

Y'all come back now, ya hear!

Gary McManus
Associate State Hillbilly
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org