The beat goes on - but maybe next week?

We did get some rain last weekend, but as expected, it wasn't near enough for anybody to really jump for joy. I did glance at the USDA Kansas Crop and Production Process on Monday - it's no surprise. Nearly 50% of soybeans were poor or very poor and 53% of sorghum was poor or very poor. 

Here are some more rainfall records and stats for Wichita, Goodland, and Dodge City. 

Wichita: In order to find a period with LESS rainfall than the one we are currently in, you'd have to go back to 1988!

Goodland: Last year wasn't very good for rain - one of the drier June to September periods on record. Terrible drought happened in 2012 and only produced 4.19" in the 4 month time span.

Dodge City:

It definitely feels like we are beating a dead horse here. Week after week, no rain and warmer than average temperatures. 

What we're watching for next week:

There's a chance another breakdown in the heat will arrive with a system tracking out of the northwest and the Rockies. It's early yet, but the timing of our next cold front is a week away. It's a little crazy to think about - we are in mid-September and the next chance a cold front arrives is 7 days away. This setup COULD be helpful - if the front and entire system doesn't fall apart between now and then. In order to make a dent in drought, we will need a very slow-moving front, or an upper-level system that sits in the southwest and just cranks out multiples waves of rain. One of those scenarios MIGHT play out next week. Again, it is a week away, but we are desperate for rain and trying to find something out there.

In the image above, you're looking at a map of winds (about 18,000 feet off the ground - those are the white arrows-the colors blue and green represent how fast the wind is blowing) The front is happening near the ground. If the front slows down Tuesday-Thursday (as advertised by some models) and the upper-level winds go parallel (the setup shown above), this might be a helpful scenario. However, big rains lately have passed us to the south and that's something to be concerned about. See for yourself - if nothing changes in the data, heaviest rains will be focused central & east. There's still a chance the front may setup farther west, or it could end up all going south and east of us too. 

Just sharing the information as we see it - hoping something will turn up in our favor soon. I know this is as frustrating as it gets, but there isn't anything we can do except sit and wait for our turn to come.