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The drought keeps hanging on, especially in Kansas, and just how many winter tornadoes did Oklahoma have?
From drought to tornadoes, it seems like we are having it all in the Southern Plains. Let’s start by taking a look at the latest drought monitor.
Just look at all the brown up in Kansas, which, if you don’t already know, means “exceptional drought.” I know we are dry here where I am located at in Oklahoma, and its sure isn’t wet in Texas, but just how bad is it in Kansas? Well, lets take a look (if you’re from Western or Southern Kansas, you might want to divert your eyes).
That’s not good.
As of this writing, the forecast is calling for some snow later this week in a lot of the “Exceptional Drought” areas, but it is going to take a lot of precipitation to turn this situation around.
To put this in perspective, consider the effect this dry weather is having on Kansas agriculture. As of Sunday, February 26, USDA rated winter wheat in Kansas as 19% good or excellent, down from 21% a month earlier and at the end of November and down from 25% a year ago. Some 51% were in poor or very poor condition, up from 38% a year ago.
The rest of the region isn’t doing well either—USDA said winter wheat in Oklahoma is at 36% good or excellent versus 17% a month ago, 31% in November, and 11% a year ago. Texas wheat rated good or excellent is 19% versus 14% last month, 21% in November, and 8% last year. Additionally, Oklahoma and Texas wheat rated poor or very poor at 41% and 49%, respectively.
Needless to say, things are still looking rough, drought wise.
Now, about those tornadoes…
According to our partners at the Oklahoma MESONET (and if you haven’t subscribed to the MESONET Ticker you should-it’s great information, entertaining and its free), Oklahoma had at least 10 tornadoes in February. That breaks the previous record of six sets in 1975 and 2009.
That sounds like a lot…
Then consider that Oklahoma also had a record five tornadoes in January AND a record eight tornadoes in December. That’s three straight months with a record number of tornadoes. Throw in six tornadoes in November (a month that usually averages 1.6 ), adding up to a record twenty three tornadoes during this winter season.
For comparisons sake, the previous recorded record was seven.
That’s right, seven.
Do we have to worry about what is in store when we hit what is traditionally the REALLY active time for severe weather in the Southern Plains which actually runs from late March through early June?
Who knows?
After all, with this crazy weather, things are hard to pin down. Many of the old signposts seem to be turned around. Just look at this issue of the MESONET ticker from last week to understand how we can go from really warm weather to snow if just a few days (if not hours).
All this speaks to why we need to be prepared for anything when it comes to wild weather in the Southern Plains. Whether it’s fire, snow, floods, droughts, tornadoes, or hurricanes, the region gets hit with them all (sometimes it seems like it’s all in the same week). Producers should check with their local USDA Service Center to make sure they know what their options are, from adaptation strategies to risk management, because the crazy weather seems to keep on coming.
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