Warm January spurs winter wheat

This unusually warm, dry winter could be both a blessing and a curse for area wheat farmers, said WSU extension educator Steve Van Vleet.

Warmer temperatures throughout the winter have already prompted the first growth of winter wheat.

However, the lack of snowfall will make for a dry spring.

“If we get a cold snap and some wind now, it could be really bad. It could be devastating,” Van Vleet said.

A sudden drop below freezing, coupled with an unforgiving wind, could pitch winter wheat into the danger zone, he said.

The ideal growing conditions for the winter crop would be if the warm temperatures hold and precipitation cranks up, Van Vleet said.

At the National Weather Service (NWS) recording station in LaCrosse, 28.6 inches of snowfall were recorded for December of 2008. That contrasts with 1.4 inches recorded for December of 2009, according to John Livingston, meteorologist for the NWS in Spokane.

“Certainly, we’ve had a different weather pattern this year. Most of the storms and moisture we’ve had have come from the southwest and the south,” said Livingston.

The overall Eastern Washington region saw 40 inches of snowfall last winter, compared to less than two inches so far this season, Livingston said.

Livingston noted this is an unusual contrast, because the last two winters have brought so much snowfall.

He noted the mountain runoff was already considerably less. So far, the NWS has recorded runoff at 20 to 40 percent below normal.

Livingston explained the unusually warm weather is the result of an El Nino, a weather phenomena affecting the Western hemisphere, generally driven by above-normal ocean surface temperatures. Signs include unusually warm, dry weather.

“For our part of the world, it usually means warmer than normal temperatures through the winter months especially January, February and March,” Livingston said. “Often times, it means drier than normal conditions. Warmer is a stronger signal than drier.”