Nebraska dry no more

When Karen Ott looked at the hills around Scotts Bluff National Monument earlier this year, she saw something she'd not seen in ages: green grass.

“The hills were emerald green,” she said. “It was such a strange sight — I felt like I was in a foreign country.”

Something was afoot.

After the record-breaking snow and heavy rains of October, Nebraska this week experienced a remarkable milestone: For the first time in more than a decade, the entire state is considered free of abnormally dry conditions.

The last time the entire state of Nebraska was free of “abnormally dry” conditions on the National Drought Mitigation Center's weekly drought map was Oct. 5, 1999, said Michael Hayes, director of the center, housed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Thursday's version of the color-coded national map — Oct. 29, 2009 — labeled Nebraska a healthy shade of white. There were none of the yellows, reds or browns that represent conditions from abnormally dry to extreme drought.

The state has been climbing out of drought for the past three years, Hayes said, and this year proved crucial.

During those intervening years of drought, the state suffered devastating losses, in some years, hundreds of millions of dollars' worth, according to agricultural economists.

“We've been getting some good moisture lately,” Hayes said. “And that is really setting us up nicely for winter and heading into spring.”

Ott, who writes a much-circulated weekly letter about farm life in the North Platte River Valley, said the irony of this year's wet weather isn't lost on her.

“We're sloshing in water,” she said. Fields are so wet, farmers are having problems harvesting. Her family's cornfield is white with snow.

Statewide, Nebraska's corn harvest hasn't been this far behind since 1982 — more than a quarter of a century. As of Monday, only 15 percent of the crop was out of the field, and no area of the state had more than 25 percent of its corn harvested.

“Your perspective on drought depends upon whether you're in it, or it's a memory,” she said. “When you're dealing with it, there's nothing worse. But when you look back on it and you're going through a really tough fall and can't get your crop out, the dry weather looks inviting. Still, I'm tickled to death it's over.”

World-Herald staff writer David Hendee contributed to this report.

Contact the writer:

444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com