Long term drought for Texas- :-(

Kyle_in_Tex · Apr 24, 2011

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/season_drought.gif

Doesn't look good folks. I know some of you up in DFW region have been getting bad storms but not sure how much rain.

I purposely planted a very small garden this year. If it wasn't for a few "volunteers", I would only have 1 tomato plant. It seems only okra does ok in the clay soil during a drought. Oh, and of course the weeds.

Its been months since we've had any significant rain.

StanR · Apr 24, 2011

I was going to plant a food plot in Columbus, Tx... just to dry

EddieWalker · Apr 24, 2011

I put in my food plot two weeks ago. I've had one rain of a quarter inch since then, and some of my plants are starting to come up. Forecast for the last week was for a chance of rain, with one day that it was supposed to be real bad. Of course, the storm split and I never got a drop.

Forecast for the entire week was 20 to 30 percent for rain, but all of a sudden, tomorrow jumped up to 70 percent!!!!!!!! I can't believe how excited I am that it might actually rain.

Eddie

Bird · Apr 24, 2011

Yep, it's been dry. I figure I've gotten the following amounts so far this year:

Jan. - 1.67"
Feb. - 1.59"
Mar. - 0.10"
Apr. - 2.11"

Of course, of the 2.11" this month, 1.58" of it was on the 11th when we had the high winds and hail. The NWS shows Denton got .38" last night. I figure my gauge had about .07". We're still having forecasts of 30-40% chance of showers and thunderstorms, so we're hoping. But of course I'd rather it would stay dry than have the tornadoes, hail, and wind that some have had.

jinman · Apr 24, 2011

I don't know how I've lucked out, but we have had nice rain and no damaging wind or hail (KNOCK ON WOOD!). The only negatives to last night's storm here were a little nickel sized hail (tough on young tomato plants) and I noticed I had two stopped up gutter downspouts. Other than that, we got another 3/4" of rain and it looks like we could get more today. Cleaning up the mud the construction crew tracks in is a bit of a pain, but we do have plastic down, so that's not as bad as it could be.

texasjohn · Apr 24, 2011

I was very small during the drought of the mid 50's and it made an impression on me. Uncles were raising goats and sheep on the Edward's Plateau. I've feared a return ever since... I suppose like depression raised youth fear a repeat as well.

It's been way dry for years and I fear that this trend my continue for all too long. I believe the drought map projection. My uncles told me in later years that it would cloud up and it looked like it just HAD to rain, but wouldn't, at least not significantly.

Going to have to seriously consider cutting cow herd in half, or getting out completely.

Bird · Apr 24, 2011

I was very small during the drought of the mid 50's and it made an impression on me.

I was 16 and working in my dad's service station in Marietta, OK, when the 1956 drought occurred. The Chevrolet dealership next door to our station went under and shut down. A lot of farmers in the area were in dire straits. I remember hearing that water from Lake Texoma ruined a lot of car batteries in Dallas because of the Red River's salt content. And by the end of that summer our business at the station had just about died. We were very fortunate to have a buyer want the place, even after looking over the books, and that's when we moved to Texas.

cherokeecowboy · Apr 24, 2011

It's not looking good. I'm considering selling the whole herd as many of my neighbors have. We are still having to supplement with hay because we haven't had any rain. Not to mention another year of $100.00 round bales doesn't sound too appealing. I still remember the drought seven or so years ago. Hay was 100 bucks a roll and people were overjoyed to get corn stalk to feed.I ended up splitting the herd three times. to sell The only saving grace is that beef is paying top dollar at the moment.

Western · Apr 24, 2011

We are actually getting rain right now!! 3/4" so far. small hail and allot of wind though.

Looks like Bird is getting it pretty hard too in Corinth.

Eddie, looks like you may "get lucky" Monday night!

I haven't even tried a garden this year, a few things around the house, but that's it. Back in Feb, I watched a NOAA show on the projected drought due to El Nina (sp). And it has been awful dry.

Weird thing: I had a dozer out 2 weeks ago to build a pad site, he got down 18" and it was wet enough to make a ball of dirt in your fist, surprised both of us since it hasn't rained since the last ice storm in early Feb.

I also have a buddy in Hico that has sold allot of hay on projected cuts this year to a feed store, they know it's coming.

If I do a summer plot this year, it will probably be Milo and mostly for erosion control, it's cheap. Deer will eat the young shoot's and the seed heads sooooo