June 20, 2002

Rainfall Extremes Mean Flooding and Drought

"In any given year and at any given time, strange things can happen when it comes to weather," according to John Enz, North Dakota State University agriculture climatologist. "Right now, part of the state is saturated with moisture while about a third of the state is facing a drought."

Rainfall amounts from May 10 through June 12 vary greatly in North Dakota. Adams County has received approximately 0.15 an inch while some areas of Pembina county received over 6 inches. The North Dakota Agriculture Statistics Service reports that 31 percent of the state, mainly areas south of interstate 94, have very short to short topsoil moisture. Fifty-five percent of the state has adequate moisture with 14 percent reporting surplus moisture.

"We dug down 15 to 16 inches and couldn’t come up with any moisture," according to Al Ulmer, NDSU Extension Service Lamoure County agent. "Pastures are in very poor condition and the wheat crop is already starting to head but has no tillers."

It’s a different story in Cavalier County. "We have about 40 to 50 thousand acres that were impacted by the heavy rain," says Ron Beneda, NDSU Extension Service Pembina county agent. "The biggest concern now is weed control. Wet conditions will make spraying extremely difficult."

The canola crop in some parts of Cavalier County is in poor condition for a variety of reasons, notes Beneda. "It was actually too dry for a while, then we had frost, wind damage and the pounding rain. But, most of the grain crop looks very good at this point."

"I’ve had a lot of people tell me that they thought our years of being in a wet cycle were finally ending, but that was before we had the large rainfall amounts," Enz says. "You wait long enough and something rare happens. Certainly the recent heavy rains qualify. It ranks with the big storm in June of 2000 north of Grand Forks, but this storm covered a lot larger area."

Back in Lamoure County, the situation is a great deal different from last year. "Last year was almost perfect," Ulmer says. "We didn’t have an abundance of rain but we always had enough to get us through. Just about the time we were getting dry, we’d get another quick shot of rain. This year hasn’t gone our way. Last year we were the green valley, this year we’re the dry valley."

"Although the small grains are in trouble, we still have hope for the soybeans, corn and sunflowers if we get some rain." Cattle ranchers in the area, as of May 1, were looking at a feed carry-over of 30 to 40 percent, notes Ulmer. "But now a lot of ranchers are still supplementing their feed. In fact, the people at the feed plant are telling me that a lot of the ranchers are inquiring about range cakes and other supplements and we’re only at the middle of June."

What about the future? "I don’t make long-range forecasts," Enz says. "For example, look how many forecasters were predicting that last winter would be the coldest in history but just the opposite occurred."

Information on coping with drought or coping with floods is available on the Web at http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/ or by contacting your local Extension Service agent.

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Sources: Al Ulmer, (701) 883-5389, aulmer@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Ronald Beneda, (701) 296-2955, cavalier@ndsuext.nodak.edu
John Enz, (701) 231-8576, john.enz@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu

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