State Climatologist Harry Hilaker told a group of farmers and other crop production officials attending a seminar this week in Le Mars that it is likely the drought will continue through this upcoming crop season. While Hillaker says the drought will continue, he also says it may not be quite as dry or hot tas it was last year.
The one big concern is that the water supply situation for aquifers and rivers and streams, as even if we get more rain, it will probably not be enough to replenish all that has been lost. Although we are seeing some rain and snow as January ends, Hillaker says this is normally one of the drier times of the year.
“If we have an unusually wet February it would not be much precipitation actually as far as total moisture goes. So we’re really looking more ahead toward March and April,” Hillaker says.
“March typically brings about two-two-and-a-half times as much moisture as February does, and April maybe three or four times as much moisture as Febuary does. And so those would really be the times of year that we would be hoping for a much better weather pattern.”
By Dennis Morrice, KLEM, Le Mars