News

Every bit of moisture helps

An ag meteorologist says the severe storms that moved across the Midwest overnight did not bring much rain to the drought-stricken areas of Kansas and Nebraska.

World Weather Incorporated’s Drew Lerner says the largest rain totals were up to three-quarters of an inch in central and south-central Kansas, but “for other areas of the High Plains, most of the rainfall was less than 15 hundredths of an inch. The drought is still alive and well in the western counties.”

But he says every bit of moisture helps. Lerner tells Brownfield most of the U.S. winter wheat crop being grown across the plains has improving conditions with the recent snows and rain.

“We’re setting the stage for improved tillering and root development. I think this crop will have some potential to improve as we move through the second half of March and into April. Don’t be too quick to write off that crop. I think there’s another life in it.”

He says winter wheat is starting to break dormancy and is greening up in Texas, Oklahoma and southern Kansas.