Ag Weather Forum

For a change Friday afternoon, the radar sites in the western half of Texas were lit up. Showers and thunderstorms meant that the radars in such locations as Midland, San Angelo and Laughlin Air Force Base in southwestern Texas were active for the first time in many weeks. In fact, radar estimate rainfall of more than 5 inches--along with flash flood warnings--were big features from the South Plains region through the Hill Country region and into the Big Bend region of Texas.

Farther north, our DTN midday forecasts on Friday projected more than an inch of rain in Lubbock and Plainview in the southern Panhandle during the next five days. Continuing north, around three-quarters of an inch was indicated for Amarillo.

But, how much good will the rain do? I posed that question in an e-mail to DTN subscriber Janet Tregellas, whose family operation is northeast of Amarillo, and her response was "minor". Here's her reply:

"We need general rains over a big area, over several days/weeks. Will take a wet winter, probably. Small spots in the Panhandle have had some relief, but scattered. Cattlemen still in bad shape. Grass pastures hurt for many years. Some fallow fields in 3 yr/2 crop rotations are being planted to grain sorghum, with expectations to at least come up and get some cover. Ground blowing has been an issue this spring."

And, this event does not look like the start of anything big on the rainfall scene. Rain basically shuts down after Tuesday, with high temperatures returning the mid-90s to around 100 Fahrenheit mid to late next week.

Bryce

Twitter @BAndersonDTN

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