South Texas drought continues

Pat Kopecki
Wilson County News

As the country watches Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Nebraska being inundated with flooding problems, Texas and California are facing the opposite — drought.

An estimated $8 billion crop loss can be attributed to weather-related damage thus far in 2008, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s June market update.

Iowa’s crop loss because of heavy rainfall is estimated at $4 billion, with Illinois’ listed at $1.3 billion. Missouri’s loss is $900 million, Indiana’s and Nebraska’s losses are $500 million each, and there is an additional $1 billion loss in other states due to flooding, according to a June 25 American Farm Bureau press release.

This same report lists northern California as battling the driest spring in history. California has an estimated $500 million in drought loss, which equals the estimated drought-related damage in all other states combined.

Droughts in Texas are not uncommon, with 1996, 1998, and 2006 listed as drought years. 2008 will soon be added to the history books.

After the 2006 drought, Texas saw the fourth-wettest period on record in 2007. Last year, Floresville received 9.1 inches in March, 2.87 inches in April, 4.8 inches in May and June, and 10.53 inches in July, according to the Wilson County Emergency Management Agency.

Now the county is once again experiencing dry conditions. The period of September 2007 through May 2008 for San Antonio was the driest on record, with only 6.57 inches, a good 2 inches lower than the previous record of 8.89 inches, set during the same period ending May 1956, according to a June 10 report from the National Weather Service National Center for Environmental Prediction.

The June 2008 rainfall total for San Antonio amounted to .01 inch, making the month of June the second driest in history.

Firefighters in South Texas are watching for probable dangerous fire conditions. The Texas Forest Service uses the Keetch-Byram Drought Index as a drought index system to equate the effects of drought with potential fire activities.

A rating of zero denotes no moisture deficiency and 800 is the maximum drought possible.

Currently, Wilson and Gonzales counties are listed in the 600-700 range. Bexar, Atascosa, Karnes, and Guadalupe counties are listed in the 700-800 range.

The effects of the drought are also noticeable by area farmers and ranchers. Corn producers have cut their corn crop for silage and there are reports of hay crops not being planted due to insufficient rainfall.

Farmers and ranchers have already and will continue to see changes in water resources, agriculture, and the use of land resources due to climate changes in the United States, according to a report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, as reported in the May 28 American Farm Bureau Federation “Executive Newswatch.”

Findings of this report include that grain and oilseed crops will mature more rapidly; the increasing temperatures will see an increase in crop failures, due to droughts or the decrease of normal rainfall; and more livestock will die in the summer as temperatures increase.

Only time will tell how severe an economic impact the 2008 drought will have on South Texas farmers.