Rain to End, Area Affected by Wet Spring

In farm country there's a saying - "It's pretty hard to complain about getting moisture." That holds true for the area, which gets only about 15-17 inches of rainfall each year.

But this year has been different. Late spring snowfalls, followed by seemingly endless rainstorms, have left the county soaked. With the forecast of warmer temperatures over the coming days, Sidney and Cheyenne County will have a window of drying in its abnormally wet spring.

In the last week alone, Sidney officially received nearly two inches of rain. But localized heavier rainfall has resulted in unofficial reports of more than three inches of rain this week, an up to six for the month.

The moisture has affected nearly everything, from road conditions in the country to the ability of farmers to get in the fields. Events have been cancelled or postponed. Along with that has come an attitude of unhappiness with the rain - evoking an attitude like that in the children's rhyme, "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day."

Not that the moisture is all bad. Subsoil moisture has virtually removed the state from showing risk on the U.S. Drought Monitor map. In Cheyenne County and to the west, Lodgepole Creek flows are as good as they have been in decades, with water running through the creek bed for the majority of its course in Nebraska. Officials also report that the area's rangeland is in excellent shape.

But farmers, particularly area corn farmers, need the drying time - and immediately - to get their crop in the ground. Officially, farmer's should have had corn in the ground by May 25 to get full coverage for crop insurance. That coverage diminishes over time when crops can't be put in the ground. In addition, there can be a point where late planting will result in lower yields as well.

There is recourse, according to Brad Fraass of the Sidney Farm Services Agency, if farmers are unable to get their corn planted as planned, they should contact him to maintain accuracy on their crop reports.

At this points, Fraass estimates planting is in the 60-70 percent range.

On the roads leading to those fields, recent rains wiped out all progress made by Cheyenne County road crews following floods from heavy snows in March and April that melted quickly and resulted in washouts.

Working overtime, crews were making great progress on the roads, but now they are again deeply rutted after getting water logged.