Northwest Arkansas Rated Abnormally Dry

STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES Edson Lopez, 12, from left, Roberto Lopez, 15, and Carlos Triana, 11, chase a soccer ball Monday while playing in the snow at Veterans Park in Rogers. The group was tired of staying inside and wanted to play. Carlos said he wants to go back to school so he can have a longer summer.
STAFF PHOTO ANTHONY REYES Edson Lopez, 12, from left, Roberto Lopez, 15, and Carlos Triana, 11, chase a soccer ball Monday while playing in the snow at Veterans Park in Rogers. The group was tired of staying inside and wanted to play. Carlos said he wants to go back to school so he can have a longer summer.

The snow on the ground conceals a general lack of precipitation so far this year, according to authorities.

February was a bad month for fires, said Dennis Ledbetter, Washington County fire marshal.

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Drought, Flood Monitoring

Drought and flood conditions are monitored in part through Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, a national volunteer network. There are 800 Arkansas weather stations, said Mike Borengasser, state climatologist, and his goal is to reach 1,500. To join the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network or to view maps of volunteer data visit www.cocorahs.org.

The ground moisture isn't the problem right now, Ledbetter said. Brush and dead grasses are.

"It's really still dry," he said.

A Washington County burn ban was lifted Monday, but might be back by the end of the week, Ledbetter said.

If it were summer, a little rain would cause the area to green up and that would lower fire danger, he said.

Winter fires, even some recent brush fires, have started because people were just trying to stay warm, Ledbetter said. He's seen brush fires start from fireplace ashes tossed out before they had time to cool. The extreme cold, and sometimes the lack of propane, has people relying more on wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, he said.

Fires in dry grass are a seasonal thing, said Tom Jenkins, Rogers fire chief. When there is a season of drought, the department is more vigilant about issuing burn permits. If drought becomes a weather pattern it can mean keeping more personnel on call.

Once the snow melts, the weather warms and the wind picks up, the fire danger will be back, Jenkins said.

Several inches of snow does not translate into an equal amount of rain, said Ray Sondag, meteorologist at the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

The combined snow and sleet in Fayetteville reported over the weekend would translate into 1.38 inches of water, and the snow and sleet at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport would be .54 inch of water, if melted, Sondag said.

"On the ground it looks like a lot, but it's not as much as you would think," he said of wintry precipitation.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it will take 3 to 6 inches of rain to return water levels in the area to normal.

Northwest Arkansas is typically dry during the winter. April, May and June will set the trend for whether Arkansas will see drought, Sondag said.

The three-month outlook issued by the National Weather Service anticipates average precipitation rates across most of the country.

People should plan for extreme weather conditions, said Mike Borengasser, state climatologist with the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.

"Over the last five years or so it's been floods, droughts, floods, droughts. There's no indication it's going to stop," Borengasser said.

Karst rock formations with their caves and underground streams can hold water longer than a field on top of sandstone, he said, but those can be depleted, too. Arkansas had drought conditions in 2011 and 2012, he said.

"It'll take time to recharge groundwater and streams," he said.

The U.S. Drought Monitor report released Feb. 27 counts Benton, Washington, Madison and Carroll counties as abnormally dry, the first of five levels on the drought scale. About 18 percent of the United States is listed as abnormally dry.

California, where drought is severe, ranks between the fourth and fifth of five levels on the drought scale.

Arkansas' situation on the drought report is listed as short term.

Precipitation totals in both Arkansas and Tennessee were between 50 percent to 70 percent of what was expected for the month of January, according to the Southern Regional Climate Center. Oklahoma had its eighth driest January on record. For Arkansas, it was the 21st driest January since records began in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Hay farmers and livestock producers in Arkansas were most severely affected by past droughts, Borengasser said.

Tim Smith of Rogers said he took soil samples on Saturday, and the soil was moist. Smith owns The Blueberry Barn. His plants are on schedule for April blooms and a June opening. This week's rush of cold air will keep plants from blooming early.

"This is probably what we needed," he said.

If the snow had come a month later it would have been devastating, he said. Right now his plants are dormant, but he may need to irrigate in the summer, he said.

Vendors are preparing for an April 26 opening to the Bentonville Farmers Market, said Nicki Dallison, market and community programs manager. Her vendors have not reported any water-related problems, and she anticipates a good season. Some vendors are still preparing ground for planting, she said.

The cold weather is more of a concern than the lack of rain. Farmers who rely on a hot house without a temperature control system system instead of a greenhouse with temperature control may not be able to start plants early this year because of the cold.

NW News on 03/04/2014

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