The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (0) Comments
Rain brings needed moisture
Published 4/13/2009 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
Rain made a big return to parts of the state this weekend with some areas of southwest Kansas receiving more than two inches.
Gray and Finney counties received the most rain, said Larry Ruthi, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Dodge City.
An area 15 miles southwest of Ingalls received 2.09 inches, an area seven miles southwest of Cimarron received 2.41 inches and an area a half-mile north of Cimarron received about 2.45 inches of rain.
Garden City Regional Airport received .84 inches on Sunday and 1.65 inches total over the weekend.
Ruthi said southwest Kansas is still behind on average precipitation amounts for the year. Garden City has received 1.84 inches of precipitation since Jan. 1, still 1.43 inches below normal. Dodge City has received 2.16 inches, or about 1.56 inches below normal.
The rainfall greened up the grass and also brought smiles to area farmers.
"Our wheat was looking pretty dry. It's going to be off to a pretty good start," Shane Knoll said.
Knoll farms in Finney County and grows wheat and milo. He said the rain was needed in the area.
"We were hanging on. We were starting to see some dry spots in the fields," Knoll said. "We may not have had a wheat crop before this rain."
The National Agricultural Statistics Service, a cooperative effort with the Kansas State Research and Extension Service, the KSU Weather Data Library, and Kansas Agriculture Statistics, releases a crop condition report each week during the growing season.
Before the rainfall, the wheat in the state was rated as 4 percent very poor, 13 percent poor, 44 percent fair, 36 percent good, and 3 percent excellent. The report also said 76 percent of wheat had no freeze damage, 83 percent had no insect infestation and 82 percent had no disease infestation.
A new report from the Agricultural Statistics Service will be released later today.
Farmers also might be happy later this week, if the forecast for more rain holds true. There will be pleasant weather today and Tuesday, with highs today reaching 60 degrees and highs tomorrow in the mid-70s.
An upper level low will be digging over the western part of the U.S., bringing a chance of storms and rain for southwest Kansas Wednesday through Saturday, Ruthi said.
Ruthi said there will be a surge of cold air over the weekend that will bring chilly, even freezing temperatures to western Kansas into next week.
"I certainly wouldn't put the tender plants out yet," Ruthi said.
Found 0 comment(s)!
Twitter Updates
