Agricultural News
New Southern Plains Perspective Blog Post Explores This Year's Warm Winter
Tue, 28 Dec 2021 11:11:09 CST
In this blog post Clay Pope talks about this year's warm winter. See this blog on the Southern Plains Perspective website by clicking or tapping here.
I've always dreamed of having a Hawaiian Christmas. Growing up on a dairy farm pretty well killed any love I had for cold, snowy weather. Sick calves, wet hands, cows with frozen teats-you can have it. Give me a green Christmas any day! And while we may not have had "tropical weather" on Christmas day, the high temperature around here was a lot closer to the one they had on Maui than the one they had in Alaska. Still, it's getting a little weird when more often than not you can get away with wearing shorts to family Holiday gatherings.
And a White Christmas? Forgetaboutit! Just this last week the Associated Press reported that from 1981 to 1990, a University of Arizona study found that, on average, almost 47% of the country had snow on the ground on Christmas Day with an average depth of 3.5 inches. That same study also showed that from 2011 to 2020, Christmas snow cover was down to 38% of the country with the average depth dropping to 2.7 inches. The story goes on to say that the scientist involved in the study caution on drawing conclusions as to whether this was caused by climate change or natural weather variability, but this analysis does come on the heels of other reports showing a connection between the decreasing snowpack in the Western United States and climate change.
Bottom line is that it sure seems to be getting warmer.
On top of this, current conditions are also getting dryer. According to the latest drought monitor, severe drought has expanded to include all of the Oklahoma Panhandle and parts of the northeast Texas Panhandle due to worsening soil moisture conditions tied to warmer temperatures and strong winds. The monitor goes on to say that extreme drought has increased across southwestern Oklahoma where a few locations have received less than a tenth of an inch of rain during the past 70 days. In addition, Amarillo currently is in the middle of its 4th longest dry streak on record, receiving no measurable precipitation since October 12. Dry conditions are also increasing in Kansas as soil moisture conditions worsen.
Maybe instead of "Green Christmas," the better term to use for this holiday season is "Brown Christmas."
Will this weather hold? Who knows? The outlook for the next few weeks seems to indicate that the trend of higher-than-normal temperatures and below normal precipitation that are typical of a La Nina year will continue at least through the first part of January. Of course, we should remember that last year was also a La Nina year (although a weak one) and we saw record cold temperatures in February.
Anything is possible when it comes to the weather and with the changing climate, the only constant is chaos. As I so often say, we need to at least put a little thought into dealing with extreme weather. Drought plans, fire plans, even extreme winter weather plans are helpful when dealing with the wild weather we so often see. A little planning never hurts.
In the meantime, enjoy the warm new year.
Read more from Southern Pains Perspective by clicking or tapping here.
Listen to episodes of the Southern Plains Perspective podcast by clicking or tapping here.
The blog deals with climate change, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that was released recently and the role research, specifically LTAR, can play in helping Agriculture deal with what's heading our way.
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