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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Part of Lone Star State now driest region in the nation
  • Date: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:02:51 -0700


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6286357.html

Part of Lone Star State now driest region in the nation
By BETSY BLANEY Associated Press
Feb. 28, 2009, 5:31PM

LUBBOCK — Central Texas cattle raiser Gerry Shudde remembers Texas'
drought of record in the 1950s when his family's ranch sometimes got a
couple of 4-inch rainfalls a year.

But the drought ongoing now is far different.

"This is just cut off completely," the 74-year-old rancher said. "In a lot
of ways, it's worse."

Across the nation's No. 2 agricultural state, drought conditions are
evaporating stock tanks, keeping many crop farmers from planting into
long-parched soil, forcing cattle producers to cull their herds, and
dropping water levels in state lakes.

Despite hurricanes Dolly, Gustav and Ike soaking Texas in 2008, almost
every part of the state — nearly 97 percent — is experiencing some
drought, according to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor map, released
Feb. 26.

Parts of Central Texas and the Hill Country — more that 8 percent of the
state — are not only in exceptional drought — the most severe stage of
dryness — but they are now the driest region in the country and the
driest they have been since 1918. It is the only place in the U.S.
experiencing exceptional drought.

San Antonio, two counties east of Shudde's ranch, has gotten only 16.67
inches of rain since September 2007, its driest 17 months ever and about 28
inches below normal.

November, December and January were the driest statewide since 1971 for
that three-month span, the fourth-driest on record. Texas averaged .32
inches of rain in January, the fourth driest in history, and about
one-fifth the normal monthly total.

Statewide numbers for February have not yet been compiled.

"February's gotten nothing but worse," said Victor Murphy, a meteorologist
with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. "It's going to be the same
gloomy numbers."

Some local numbers were available, though, and they show that none of the
state's 25 largest cities got even half the normal rainfall between Dec. 1
and Feb. 25.

"That's another example of how bad things are," Murphy said. "Things just
continue to get worse."

There is, however, a glimmer of hope. Forecasters say it appears the La
Nina weather pattern that's kept Texas dry may be breaking up over the
central Pacific Ocean.

"It looks like it's starting to weaken," Murphy said. "With that being the
case, May and June, our normal rainy months, we might have something
positive to look forward to."

If those rains don't materialize, the cost to agriculture could be
enormous.

"It's too preliminary" to estimate what the losses could be this year, said
Travis Miller, drought specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service.

If the recent past is any indication, agriculture losses could top 2006.
Drought-related crop and livestock losses were the state's worst ever for a
single year, totaling $4.1 billion. Numbers on the latest drought map are
worse than those for same week of 2006.

What does that mean to ranchers?

Most started culling their herds a few months ago and that will probably
continue, Miller said.

Shudde, who in the 2006 drought cut his small herd in half because he could
no longer feed them, has six stock tanks for watering his cattle. Four of
those tanks are already dry and two others, which were dug deeper after the
1950s drought, are nearly empty.

He normally plants oats and other feed grasses in his pastures to help feed
his cattle during the winter.

This year, though, "there's not a seed come up on any of them yet," he
said. "We go through these (droughts). It's just time for this to end."

Miller said most ranchers use supplemental feed — hay and other grazing
grasses cut and harvested months ago — during winter months. This year,
there is a big difference.

"It's not supplemental feed," he said. "It is the feed."

Crop farmers too are in a quandary. Soil moisture is inadequate across much
of the state.

"There's really nothing to plant on," Miller said. "We need 8 to 10 inches
to fill the soil profile up."

Miller said he is reminded of the 1998 drought, when a dry winter and
spring finally gave way to a wet June.

"It rained a lot but all the crops were already lost," he said.

It won't be just agriculture impacted by continued dry conditions,
especially if the drought persists into spring months when homeowners and
others around the state begin watering lawns and gardens.

Of the 109 lakes the Texas Water Development Board monitors, 28 were at
least 90 percent full, according to the agency's most recent monthly
report. That compares with 42 in early September and 83 in late May.
Summertime temperatures contribute to evaporation.

The storage capacity of Texas lakes dipped slightly to 80 percent since the
late December report. One horror spot is O.C. Fisher Reservoir west of San
Angelo, which the report states is "effectively empty."

"I wish we had some rain," said Barney Austin, director of the board's
surface water resources. "You fly across the state and it's all brown, not
green."

Austin expects the situation to grow even more dire as Texans begin tending
to their landscapes.

"If we don't get any rain between now and when it starts getting hot we're
going to be in a lot more trouble," he said.

Drought also means a heightened threat of wildfires. As of Thursday burn
bans were in place in 200 of the state's 254 counties. Historically, the
second week of March is the worst for wildfires.

More than 900,000 acres burned as wildfires swept across the Panhandle
during one five-day span in mid-March 2006. Twelve people, including a
firefighter, and thousands of livestock perished.

"This year the grass fuel is really a mosaic because a lot of the state
didn't get adequate spring rains" in 2008, said Mark Standford, chief of
fire operations for the Texas Forest Service. "It's extremely dry."

Since Jan. 1, about 3,400 wildfires have been reported across the state,
scorching nearly 105,000 acres. No serious injuries have been reported but
67 homes and 245 other structures were reported destroyed through
Wednesday.

The only places not experiencing any drought on this week's drought map are
all or parts of about 15 counties in northern far East Texas, including
Bowie, Red River, Lamar, Titus, Hopkins, Franklin, Harrison, Cass, Upshur,
Marion, Smith, Gregg, Morris, Rains and Wood counties.

Shudde, the rancher, can for now only wish that list included Uvalde
County, where his land is.

"Send me a big ol' towel," he said jokingly. "We'll cry."

Betsy Blaney has been the AP's Lubbock correspondent since 2001 and
regularly reports on agricultural issues.

Low lake levels

Here's a look at low levels among Texas lakes, according to the Texas Water
Development Board's January report, its most recent. Capacity is listed in
acre feet; one acre foot equals about 325,000 gallons.

LOWEST LEVELS

— Palo Duro in the High Plains, down 9 percent (capacity 60,897 acre
feet)

— O.C. Fisher in the Edwards Plateau, effectively empty (capacity 79,483)

— White River Lake in the High Plains, down 78 percent (capacity 29,880)

— Champion Creek in Low Rolling Plains, down 79 percent (capacity 41,618)

— E.V. Spence in Edwards Plateau, down 90 percent (capacity 517,272)

— MacKenzie in the High Plains, down 88 percent (capacity 46,429)

— Twin Buttes in Edwards Plateau, down 74 percent (capacity 177,850)

— Lake Meredith in the High Plains, down 88 percent (capacity 500,000)

— Red Bluff in Trans-Pecos, down 72 percent (capacity 289,670)

OTHER NOTABLE LAKES

— Falcon, up 5 percent (capacity 1.55 million acre feet)

— Lake Travis, down 37 percent (capacity 1.13 million)

— Lake Tawakoni, down 20 percent (capacity 888,126)

— Lewisville Lake, down 22 percent (capacity 543,988)

— Toledo Bend, down 13 percent (capacity 2.23 million)

— Cedar Creek Reservoir, down 12 percent (capacity 644,686)

— Lake Whitney, down 34 percent (capacity 553,349)

— Ray Roberts, down 10 percent (capacity 798,758)

— Lake Texoma, full (capacity 1.2 million)

— Possum Kingdom, down 8 percent (capacity 540,340)

— Lake Livingston, full (capacity 1.74 million)

— Amistad, up 2 percent (capacity on Texas side of border lake 1.84
million)

Source: Texas Water Development Board: January Texas Water Conditions
Report








  • [Livingontheland] Part of Lone Star State now driest region in the nation, Tradingpost, 03/01/2009

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