* Rainfall brings relief to U.S. Plains
* Drought-stricken areas shrink in Texas
* More than 7 inches recorded in some areas
* Rain helps wheat farmers, ranchers
By Carey Gillam
Oct 13 (Reuters) - Relief in the form of raindrops helped shrink the
mass of drought-stricken areas in Texas over the last week, but much more
rain is needed to turn back the historic dry spell, according to a national
drought report issued Thursday.
Farmers rushed back into fields to seed winter wheat, and thirsty
cattle enjoyed the respite from what has been months of little to no rain
and hot temperatures.
From 3/4 inch to more than 7 inches of rain were recorded from central
Texas northward through Kansas. Still, much more rain is needed to even
approach normal conditions, climatologists said.
Some areas remain more than a foot short of normal rainfall.
"It did help," said Brian Fuchs, a climatologist with the National
Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska. "That moisture is
going to do a lot to settle the dust ... getting some relief to some areas
that have suffered for a long time. But even with this rain, in some of
these areas record dryness still prevails."
He added, "This situation is so unique ... just how dry it is."
Rain not only tames the dangers of wildfires and aids pasture and
rangeland, but provides the soil moisture wheat farmers have been waiting
for to help germinate young winter wheat.
While many farmers had already "dusted in" seed, others were waiting
and hoping for rain before they planted. Now those farmers are busy in
their fields.
"It was a nice rain," said Texas A&M agronomist Travis Miller. "It
ranged all over the map, but a lot of our wheat country was covered by an
inch and a half to five inches of rain. It was very timely."
Texas so far has suffered more than $5 billion in agricultural losses,
and more than 23,000 separate wildfires have destroyed 3.8 million acres in
the state's longest one-year period on record.
According to Thursday's report, about 92 percent of the state was
considered in extreme or exceptional drought, the highest levels reported.
But that was down from 97 percent a week earlier. And the worst level of
drought, exceptional drought, fell to 73.13 percent of Texas from 87.99
percent of the state.
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Drought Monitor map: droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
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Oklahoma also saw an improvement in the last week, with the level of
exceptional drought dropping to 59.10 percent from 69.82 percent of the
state.
New Mexico and Arizona also saw drought levels mitigated over the last
week.
But Louisiana actually saw drought areas expand, with more than a third
of that state now in extreme or exceptional drought, the report said.
The National Weather Service said forecasts for Oct. 18-22 call for
drier-than-normal conditions from the Pacific Coast to the southern Plains,
while wetter-than-normal weather is expected across the Midwest, Southeast,
and northern Plains.
"The longer-term outlook is not looking favorable," said Fuchs.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City)Advertisement
