Drought continues for much of Oklahoma despite recent rains

While some parts of the state have seen improvement in drought conditions in recent weeks, other areas have seen little change, especially in northwest Oklahoma where farmers and ranchers have faced the greatest impact.

Thursday marked the first day of summer, and large areas of northwest Oklahoma are entering the season in serious drought conditions that have persisted for months.

Over the last 180 days, much of the area has seen less than 6 inches of precipitation, while parts of eastern and southeastern Oklahoma have seen in excess of 20 inches of precipitation in the same time frame, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet weather network.

Woodward, Major, Dewey and Blaine counties are suffering through the "core of the drought," where the drought impacts are most significant, said state climatologist Gary McManus.

“For agriculture, especially, it was somewhat disastrous,” McManus said. “On the large-scale outlook … the wheat crop would be considered poor to very poor. In general, the impacts to wheat across the region were severe. The impacts to the cattle industry were severe."

With dry ponds and lack of green-up in pastures, McManus said inhospitable conditions will remain for ranchers until the area sees more rain. For farmers, the dry weather has affected their ability to plant summer crops.

In Woodward County, ranchers are having trouble keeping up with their herds and the hay needed to sustain cattle herds isn't being cut as it normally would be, said Dana Bay, Woodward County extension educator.

“We're kind of on the verge of setting up to be another disaster," Bay said. "If we don't get enough rain to produce some forage, we don't have anything to feed those cattle this winter, so we're going to be in trouble."

The wildfires that have ravaged the area over the last two years coupled with the exceptional drought conditions have left ranchers with tough decisions to make about their livelihoods, she said.

With the likelihood that little or no beneficial rain is coming in the months ahead, Bay said ranchers are left with the options of taking cattle they normally wouldn't get rid of and selling them at a loss or sticking with the cattle they have and paying high prices for feed through the rest of the year.

"You kind of reach a point there: Which is the best option?" Bay said.

Drought is starting to intensify across central and southeastern parts of the state, McManus said. In far southeast Oklahoma, he said areas are well below normal for rainfall over the last two months and conditions are drying out in central Oklahoma.

“We're really going to rely on promised rainfall over the next four or five days to try to sort of beat that dry spell back a little bit,” he said.

Outside of the possibility of rainfall in the next week, conditions are not expected to improve significantly as Oklahoma falls into its typical weather pattern for the summer.

“We are approaching that time when the heat dome tends to set up over the southern plains and the southern tier of the U.S. and our rainfall does slow down,” McManus said.

For some parts of northwest Oklahoma, drought conditions are expected to remain but improve, according to drought outlook data released Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Although June through August isn't considered the driest part of the year in terms of rainfall totals, McManus said when you combine evaporation and water use, by plants and humans, it does equate to the overall driest period for the state.

Following a cold start to the year, the back end of spring ushered in above normal temperatures, with McManus citing temperatures between 5 and 15 degrees above normal through much of the last 45 days.

McManus said last month was the warmest May on record, with the state average about 5 degrees above normal for the month. It has continued through June, where heat index values above 100 degrees have been recorded on a regular basis.

And the heat is expected to stick around, McManus said.

“From what I've seen, the above normal temperatures would be likely to continue as we go through summer," he said.