Every drop of rain counts

Perhaps the lack of rain over the past year just made it seem like more, but 1.25 inches fell from the skies over Sidney from May 17 through May 20—an amount verified by Vernon Florke of the High Plains Ag Lab.

Don Ogle, Information and Education Coordinator at the Sidney office of the Natural Resource District, said that it is “too early to tell if the rain helped. Every bit that comes from the sky is water that we don’t have to pump from the ground. It could turn hot, but at least now we have moisture to turn up a good crop.”

Ogle went on to say, “If we continue with a good rainy stretch, we wouldn’t have to run irrigation system as much. The funny thing about aquifers is it takes a long time for rain to get there; some parts of areas are quick to fill up and quick to go out. It is hard to tell at this point.”

Yet indications are that this recent wet spell may alleviate some drought-related issues.

According to Ogle, “Every time there is a good rainy period it means people don’t have to pump water from their wells.”

He added that normally there is not a lot of irrigation this time of year but at least farmers aren’t having to run irrigation systems right now and the rain has added moisture to help turn up the crops.

“Although the amount of rain over the weekend was nice, it is just a drop in the bucket of what would make a difference for us,” Ogle said.

In conclusion, Ogle said that it will take “a lot of rains for a long time to make a huge impact. Conservation is always a good idea, even if we are not in a drought. Because there is always another dry period coming in our country.”