http://droughtreporter.unl.edu/

v 2.4.3.0

It has been over two weeks since any rain even near an inch has graced our area. Most of our moisture has been due to fog. Need to water the roses. Spring has come early to this region, though there could easily be at least one more freeze before it really is spring. Have seen this pattern play out before where people plant entire gardens thinking the warmer weather is here to stay just to get it destroyed by a freeze. The redbud trees are blooming, plants are budding out, birds are returning to, and going through, the area (mainly through). This will be added stressors to an area near the beginnings of a drought. The Drought Monitor Index shows the second level drought we were in has totally vanished. Have observed many people watering the sidewalk instead of just the lawn and plants, as well as watering between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. This area is seeing more sinkholes opening up. One of the causes of these is the over-withdrawal of groundwater (different than surface water). Drought is also a part of this. However, the currently forming sinkholes may, in part, be caused by the pipeline being forced through our area against our will. Porous rock is not the place to be putting pipelines. The general public show no sign of being aware we had been in a drought. Our tap water has been brown more often than it used to be since the last freeze when we had to run outside water and is also smelly. Fire danger is in at least the moderate range due to all the dry build-up from the fall and winter. Prescribed burns are helping to clear some of that growth. CoCoRaHS Report from Station #Live Oak 0.4 NE on 2/6/2017