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North Central Oregon | Here in a large area of the Northwest we are dealing with dry conditions. Last year was abnormally hot, dry (no rain and very low humidity), and windy for much of the year. Local area had over 300,000 acres of crop and grazing land burn, the first fire, 100,000 acres, was in June, the last fire, 20,000 acres, was in October. 7.5” rain during 2018 (12 inch average rainfall area)
Soil tests showed in the top 3 feet we had between 2.4 and 3.2 inches of available moisture in our chem fallow. In a normal year we have over 5. Quite a bit of the wheat was dusted in. The winter so far has been warmer than normal with below normal precipitation. Though we are dryland and don’t rely on snowpack, for those who do, the numbers are worrisome. The mountains are at 40 to 60 percent of normal snowfall. Ski areas that should have over 100” of packed base are at 50 to 60 inches. We have received a little over an inch of precipitation in January, which is a relief because I took video of my pickup raising dust as I was driving across a field in early January. In a normal year I’d be worried about getting stuck.
The wheat though is using moisture, we’ve had enough warm days that it has emerged and continued to grow. Right now just praying the continued forecast of dry into the spring is wrong.
Edited by Nor-C-Ore-Drylander 2/2/2019 13:20
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The Wheaties,
