Another Southern Plains drought for 2012?

[Tim Vasquez]

I notice this drought pattern is getting a bit persistent from year to year (see graphics below). Almost every year, the drought is centered somewhere in the Texas to Central Rockies region, with normal or above-average precipitation in the Midwest through the Great Lakes Region.

What is most concerning is that the winter months are THE most important time for recharging soil moisture and aquifers in the Great Plains, since vegetation is dormant and evaporational losses are lowest. Drought and a lack of days with snow cover tend to perpetuate the drought. The coverage into the southern Rockies also suggests warmer than normal dry sectors / caps, and that long wave ridging in the western US could be a problem.

I have to say it would be interesting to recalculate an annual average precipitation map based on the past 10 years of data.

 

[kknox]

The cartoon graphic at the bottom sums it up very nicely. We can't much more of this in North and West Texas.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

The drought is still really bad across the TX Panhandles, but there is one major difference between the winter last year and the one this year. We have actually received moisture, though not very much, still a lot more that what fell in the 2010-2011 winter. We are no long in an extreme drought around Amarillo. Does that mean the dryline will actually stop west of I-35 this year? If we can get a few more shots at rain or snow out here before March, it is a maybe... a small maybe. I am a bit optimistic though that come May or June the Panhandles (or atleast Western OK) may actually get some good chase days if the La Nina actually fades back to neutral like forecasted.

The droughts (or one big drought) have become part of life in the Southern Plains. There use to be an abundance of corn farmers north of the Canadian, but many have switched to cotton because of how much less water it uses among other reasons. The drought has esentially killed Lake Meredith. A lake that was at 85 feet when I was in high school in 2001. The lake is now at 30 feet and only a miracle could save it. Follow this link to see what is left of the lake - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100506986761357.2655873.9609344&type=3&l=ad98d68977. Sand dunes that now cover more ground than the lake does. The incredible dust storms out here are all too common anymore. The fact we have had any that even resemble the Dust Bowl should be a great indicator of how bad it has been out here.