The drought situation is bad here in Kansas and it gets even worse down in Oklahoma and Texas. In fact, 6 month rainfall deficits in north Texas range anywhere from 8-14 inches, with Wichita seeing nearly a 7 inch rainfall deficit.
Wildfires in Texas have been burning out of control now for several days and the smoke is quite visible from space. The attached image shows the different fires burning in the Lone Star state. We can contribute this unusually dry pattern to the La Nina that has been in place across the Equatorial Pacific since early fall 2010. The water temperatures are cooler than average and favor drier than normal conditions in the south.
Storm season has ramped up for areas to our east, with a couple different tornado outbreaks in the last few weeks. The pattern continues to be active for us in Kansas, but we have been missing the best chances for rain because Gulf moisture has been getting pushed off to the east before the storm systems get a chance to do anything with it. As much as it stinks to have to wait, that's about all we can do, waiting for La Nina to go away and the pattern to favor more spring rains in the central and southern US.
