Oklahoma Experiencing Flash Droughts
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Dillon Travis is a fifth-generation farmer from Maramec in Pawnee County.
“I got into farming from a very young age, my dad and my grandfather both farmed and we were kind of the same,” says Travis.
Pawnee County has received over 12 inches of rain this spring, which is above the average amount, and that's helped the family's production of hay, fertilizer, and seedings that they sell to other farmers in Oklahoma--but that hasn't always been the case.
“We were running outta water in our ponds. We were running outta grass. We had to change the way we were managing our grass and we ended up not having to sell any cows because we don't, we try not to overstock our pastures and we run it,” says Travis.
Dr. Jeffery Basara is an Associate Professor and Executive Associate Director of Water Security at the University of Oklahoma. He recently co-authored a report in the nature communications journal. That peer-reviewed research includes the very latest data on flash droughts.
“We focus on how extremes and weather and climate impact all sorts of sort of the, the background of the ecosystems of society,” says Dr. Basara.
He says flash droughts form differently than typical dry spells because flash droughts are quicker to develop into a serious situations.
“Instead of seeing something develop over six to 12 months, these are processes that develop over three to six weeks. And so, the challenge there is that what happens is when these flash droughts occur, which begins with a lack of precipitation, but also then tend to be coupled with extreme heat and very dry ambient conditions, windy, lots of sunshine.,” says Dr. Basara
Dr. Basara says data collection is getting more accurate and showing that flash droughts occur often in Oklahoma.
“Over the last decade and, really specifically even over the last five years as we've had better data sets that we can utilize, we've begun to realize that these are really important events,” says Dr. Basara.
“2022 had a significant flash drought across, especially the eastern part of the state of Oklahoma, southern Oklahoma, and had major impacts on water resources and vegetation sustenance in those regions,” says Dr. Basara.
Flash droughts in Oklahoma do most of their damage in the late summer months, adversely affecting crop yields at harvest time.
“Once there's a seed in the soil, if there's no available water because of flash drought conditions, then the actual vegetation doesn't come up, the wheat doesn't come up. And so that actually means that from that point on you can't get those plants back,” says Dr. Basara.
And late-season rainfall arrives too late to help.
“Most of the fields we were cutting last year were making 30 to 50% less than the year before. And some were even up in that 70% less. So, if a pasture was making three bales to the acre, it was making anywhere from bales to bales and a half to the acre. So, a lot of producers were losing their hay production and they had to start feeding hay earlier because there was no grass,” says Travis.
Clay Pope is with the National Association of Wheat Growers, and he says flash droughts have become more persistent.
“At times that in the past we didn't necessarily see it then and it's coming in bigger chunks and when it comes in bigger chunks, that means you have those extended dry periods which develop into those flash droughts,” says Pope.
Those extended dry periods sap the soil of nutrients vital for healthy crops.
“If you run the math on it, we lose about three pounds of soil for every pound of wheat we grow in Oklahoma. That's not sustainable either financially or if we're gonna feed 9 billion people,” says Pope.
Dr. Basara says local communities here in Oklahoma will not be the only ones battling with flash droughts. It will be a problem the whole globe deals with.
“One really important case was in 2010 in Russia, there was a significant flash drought that occurred in that region that led to a very strong heat wave and a number of unfortunate fatalities locally, but it had such an impact on the local wheat production in that portion of the world that the exports of wheat that occur and that you typically occur in that world, in that region of the world actually ended,” says Dr. Basara.
Many towns and cities in Oklahoma try to conserve water to ensure the supply is there for residents, but the effects of flash droughts are beginning to impact water levels in urban areas as well.
“That of course has impacts on all sorts of issues from commerce and shipping, but also the availability of water for municipalities, for whatever is needed, including just basic human consumption but also industry and other aspects of what our cities need water for,” says Dr. Basara.
Dillon Travis advises other farmers to "make hay while the sun shines"---because good years are always offset by bad years in his business.
"If your crops are doing good and you've got, and you're getting bumper crops, put that money back for a year, that's gonna be bad. And I think that if you just watch your bottom dollar all the time, I think that will make sure that you can make it year in, year out,” says Travis.
Joel Filomeno breaks down the effects of flash droughts on Oklahoma farms and water resources following a study by researchers at the University of Oklahoma.
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