The Garden City Telegram
Email this story | Add Your Comment
| Read (0) Comments
Super soaker
Published 4/18/2009 in Local News
BY SHAJIA AHMAD
Area farmers had only praises to sing about gray skies and a constant rainy drizzle from overhead, even though the promising precipitation hasn't yet matched or exceeded average expected rainfall for this time of year.
Click to Purchase Photo Reprints!
Laurie Sisk/Telegram — Water rushes through a drainage ditch near Campus and Kansas on Friday morning as traffic flows by.
Click to Purchase Photo Reprints!
Brad Nading/Telegram — A squirell uses its tail as an umbrella Friday while eating off a corn feeder during one of the periods of rain.
Click to Purchase Photo Reprints!
Laurie Sisk/Telegram — A goose floats among the raindrops as a heavy rain falls on Friday at the Lee Richardson Zoo.
"We call this million dollar rain," said Mike Harkness, a Scott County farmer whose 8,000 acres of wheat, milo, soybeans, sunflowers and more relies mostly on Mother Nature for moisture. "It's not too often we get a slow gentle rain that lasts practically two days — a farmer couldn't order anything better than this."
Harkness said his wheat yield would have been slim to none without this week's wet weather; instead, the farmer, like many of his colleagues, will have some good moisture to work with for their spring crops, he said.
At least 2 inches of rain fell in Garden City beginning early morning Thursday and continuing into Friday evening, and the rain is expected to continue into today. Locations from Liberal up to Scott City also received abundant rainfall, according to the National Weather Service based in Dodge City.
Total rainfall in Finney County this year — 3 inches — falls a half inch below the expected normal of 3.51 inches of rain by this time of year, weather officials said.
Despite below-average rainfall, farmers in western Kansas will take whatever they can get, said Copeland farmer Jarvis Garetson.
The farmer, who irrigates corn and grows soybeans and wheat in Haskell and Gray counties, said the gift from up above is a huge money-saver for his irrigated land.
"If we got 2 inches of rain in a half-hour or hour, like in a thunderstorm, much of it would have run off," Garetson said. "This slow rain is unusual, but it's phenomenal — it's really going to soak in, which is wonderful news for us."
Where raindrops met cement, Garden City's streets saw some ponding of water in ditches and roads over the course of the last few days. However, because of the rain's slow and gentle fall, the city's storm water drainage system and roadways have experienced no problems from the unusual weather, said Steve Cottrell, an engineer with the city's public works department.
Beginning today, heavier bands of rain in the area will move eastward and some afternoon thunderstorms could be expected before the wet weather leaves the western Kansas region, according to the National Weather Service. Meteorologists expect a 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms today and areas of fog before 9 a.m. Otherwise, the day is expected to be mostly cloudy.
Tonight, residents should expect a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 3 a.m. with mostly cloudy skies and a low around 39 degrees. The night should also be windy, with a north-northwest wind between 17 and 25 mph and gusts as high as 36 mph.
Sunday is expected to be mostly sunny, with a high near 62, and windy, with a north northwest wind between 21 and 28 mph and wind gusts as high as 38 mph. Sunday night will be partly cloudy with a low around 38 and north northwest winds between 10 and 16 mph.
Residents should expect a sunny Monday with a high near 72.
Found 0 comment(s)!
Twitter Updates
