Despite recent rain, drought still possible

By Brad Ramsay
Summer Reporter

Despite the rains that have been falling in Indiana in the last few days a potentially dangerous drought could still occur later this summer.

Ken Scheeringa, acting state climatologist, said, "We have been experiencing a drought in Indiana since August of 1999."

Marshall Martin, associate head of agriculture economics, said we should not panic because we are not in a dangerous drought, yet.

Scheeringa said the long running drought has allowed Indiana and many parts of the United States to slip several inches below what is deemed normal rainfall.

La Niña can take the blame for the below normal rainfall that has been affecting the state.

"La Niña is a key factor in determining how long the drought will continue in Indiana and the nation," said Scheeringa.

According to the NOAA, La Niña is expected to continue diminishing for the next several months.

Even though it was dry last summer, crops did well because there was adequate subsoil water, said Martin.

As for this summer the good news is farmers had a near record in corn and soybean planting. The crops were planted in a timely fashion and the soil was in near perfect condition. The bad news is that the necessary water in the subsoil is not there, and we require frequent timely rains to meet the needs of the crops, said Martin.

Martin added, there has been some discussions with the Purdue faculty, Lt. Gov. Joe Kernan, commissioner of agriculture, and Joe Pearson, deputy commissioner of agriculture, to do some contingency planning if a dangerous drought were to occur.

So far, the rains have occurred, but if the timely rains do not continue on a regular basis that could mean some restrictions on water. Scheeringa said the average urban dweller may be restricted on lawn watering, but if the drought gets more severe local communities may set up water-rationing schedules.

If the drought does get caustic enough to hurt the crop yield, the effects on food prices will most likely be insignificant, if any change occurs at all, said Martin.

The drought we are in now is a lot different than the one that occurred in 1988. The current drought is of a light intensity, but it has a long history. In 1988, the drought was shorter in history but quite intense, said Scheeringa

Martin said, the department of Agriculture helped a lot of people during the summer of 1988. They set up hot lines, held press conferences and provided all the information they could through the news media.

"We are in a better position to get through a drought now than 1988," said Martin.

According to the NOAA, annually economic drought losses hover between six and eight billion dollars, which is almost more than flood and hurricane losses combined.