That is ******* amazing. I knew south of Madison was fubar, but that is just unreal.
$10 corn here we come!
The drought in Nebraska
- Thread starter NebrClone
- Start date
That is ******* amazing. I knew south of Madison was fubar, but that is just unreal.
$10 corn here we come!
Drove about 20 miles south of Madison over the weekend, the corn is absolute ****. Just awful.
It's actually pouring here right now - I wish it'd slow down or it's just going to run off.
Of course, my parents are 10 miles across the IL border and they can freaking see the lightning but it's going right on by. Our corn is about 3-4 weeks behind everyone else (organic, so we plant later to lower the cross-pollination) but if we don't get rain in the next week, there won't be anything there.
At least they got a nice crop of oats, I guess.
ETA: the news just showed flash flooding on East Wash (main road to downtown Madison). Just crazy.
2nd ETA: now there are four people trapped in cars in high water. This is insane. It's been raining for less than 40 minutes.
It's actually pouring here right now - I wish it'd slow down or it's just going to run off.
Of course, my parents are 10 miles across the IL border and they can freaking see the lightning but it's going right on by. Our corn is about 3-4 weeks behind everyone else (organic, so we plant later to lower the cross-pollination) but if we don't get rain in the next week, there won't be anything there.
At least they got a nice crop of oats, I guess.
ETA: the news just showed flash flooding on East Wash (main road to downtown Madison). Just crazy.
2nd ETA: now there are four people trapped in cars in high water. This is insane. It's been raining for less than 40 minutes.
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Long term forecast I heard for Iowa is for less than 2" rain for the period Aug thru Sept.
At least the Loup Power Canals are still looking alright. Is Lake McConaghy still able to pump sufficient electricity through the dam?
We got all our allotment for the decade last year, courtesy the Army Corps of Engineers.
I am looking at the bright side. I haven't mowed in almost 3 weeks and I don't see the need in the foreseeable future.
Good point...the drought didn't really start in June. We were fairly dry all winter too with not much snow.
A volume of water is stored in Lake McConaughy each year (called the "environmental account" by the various entities using Lake Mac water)
that is released during critical habitiat times, such as when the cranes come
through the region... additional water is released during these times on top of
what other downstream users are using. There's probably enough water in the lake this year for next spring's migration, but if the drought continues, even the birdies are screwed.
Right now, Lake Mac is at 68% of capacity, and they are releasing around 3k CFS, give or take...so yes, they are generating electricity. A year ago, after the record runoff from the Rockies, Mac was at 99% capacity and was running nearly 5K CFS.
And for the comment that there's no water in Nebraska... please google High Plains "Ogallala" Aquifer.
The drought started last August-September. We were way below normal ending the summer last year and the lack of snow just added to it.
I've got corn hanging on still but will need a rain soon or I might as well shut it down for this year.
I contracted very conservative this year and now I'm wondering if I will even get that this year. The next three weeks will be interesting, hopefully we can get some sort of system to come together.
We can only hope, but it doesn't sound good. Drought cycles are pretty tough to break after you get this far into them. There just isn't any moisture around now to "ignite" anything. You are dead on about the starting point also, I never mowed my lawn after July last year.
Yeah that's the problem, we have had quite a few systems try to come together only to run into dry air and fall apart. I don't see that ending anytime soon unless we get a huge moisture event to come from somewhere that can make it through the dry air.
It really started last summer. We had a dry July, August, and Sept and no rain in Oct and Nov last year fb a dry winter and spring.
It will go higher when the bidders get involved. This is a sure fire bubble.