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Temperatures that have at times been up to 15 degrees above average have been good for area farmers and ranchers, agriculture officials said. And Friday’s rain — the first significant rain event of 2012 — didn’t hurt, either.
Mike Griffin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield, Mo., said the storm dropped about an inch and a half of rain on southeast Kansas.
Numerous storm systems have moved through western Missouri just across the border, Griffin said, and those storms barely missed crossing into Kansas.
Southeast Kansas currently slowly climbing out of the severe drought conditions that plagued the area last summer and into fall.
“Cherokee, Bourbon and Crawford Counties are still in slight to moderate drought on our monitor,” Griffin said. “But they’re only down two inches of rainfall for the yearly average, so this rain helped.”
Griffin said temperature will continue to remain above normal.
“It doesn’t look like things will change in the next few months, and we could see rain at near to slightly above normal. It all depends on if the Pacific ocean waters warm or cool,” he said.
Low rain and high temperatures have been good for area farmers and ranchers, though. The warmth has given them a respite that could help them this spring. The mild temperatures and dry conditions have allowed farmers a window of opportunity to spread nitrogen over their fields early, which they can’t do when their fields are wet, said Wildcat District Extension Agent Dean Stites.
“When spring rolls around, all they’ll have to do is run the field cultivator over it and plant their crops,” Stites said. “If they have to do it in the spring, sometimes they only have three or four days to do it. They haven’t had the opportunity in the last several years to get that done early.”
For ranchers, the warm weather means they can worry less about feeding their cattle and other livestock. There was real concern at the end of fall that the extended drought would cause ranchers to have to dig into their hay reserves months early.
“We went into fall real dry, and there wasn’t a lot of grass for cattle,” Stites said. “People were anxious because they thought weren’t going to have enough feed. But cattle are staying warm and not eating as much as they might otherwise, and the feed is more likely to last through to spring. There’s even some grazing grass out for the cattle.”
Stites said the rain won’t hinder planting operations as long as it doesn’t persist.
“We don’t need a lot of rain in the winter, and we have enough now that we won’t need any more for a month or more,” he said. “The wheat needed it the most, but it’s not critical. And it probably won’t be super muddy because the ground was so dry. Planting should be more timely than it was in the last few years.”
Temperatures that have at times been up to 15 degrees above average have been good for area farmers and ranchers, agriculture officials said. And Friday’s rain — the first significant rain event of 2012 — didn’t hurt, either.
Mike Griffin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield, Mo., said the storm dropped about an inch and a half of rain on southeast Kansas.
Numerous storm systems have moved through western Missouri just across the border, Griffin said, and those storms barely missed crossing into Kansas.
Southeast Kansas currently slowly climbing out of the severe drought conditions that plagued the area last summer and into fall.
“Cherokee, Bourbon and Crawford Counties are still in slight to moderate drought on our monitor,” Griffin said. “But they’re only down two inches of rainfall for the yearly average, so this rain helped.”
Griffin said temperature will continue to remain above normal.
“It doesn’t look like things will change in the next few months, and we could see rain at near to slightly above normal. It all depends on if the Pacific ocean waters warm or cool,” he said.
Low rain and high temperatures have been good for area farmers and ranchers, though. The warmth has given them a respite that could help them this spring. The mild temperatures and dry conditions have allowed farmers a window of opportunity to spread nitrogen over their fields early, which they can’t do when their fields are wet, said Wildcat District Extension Agent Dean Stites.
“When spring rolls around, all they’ll have to do is run the field cultivator over it and plant their crops,” Stites said. “If they have to do it in the spring, sometimes they only have three or four days to do it. They haven’t had the opportunity in the last several years to get that done early.”
For ranchers, the warm weather means they can worry less about feeding their cattle and other livestock. There was real concern at the end of fall that the extended drought would cause ranchers to have to dig into their hay reserves months early.
“We went into fall real dry, and there wasn’t a lot of grass for cattle,” Stites said. “People were anxious because they thought weren’t going to have enough feed. But cattle are staying warm and not eating as much as they might otherwise, and the feed is more likely to last through to spring. There’s even some grazing grass out for the cattle.”
Stites said the rain won’t hinder planting operations as long as it doesn’t persist.
“We don’t need a lot of rain in the winter, and we have enough now that we won’t need any more for a month or more,” he said. “The wheat needed it the most, but it’s not critical. And it probably won’t be super muddy because the ground was so dry. Planting should be more timely than it was in the last few years.”
