How will the El Niño winter weather impact agriculture? Rod Bain tells us coming up on this land of ours.
What might the El Niño climate pattern expected to dominate this winter’s weather in our country mean from an agricultural standpoint? USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey starts with Western water supplies for irrigation, where water storage was boosted by last winter’s significant precipitation accumulation, however:
“Some of the biggest reservoirs, especially those in the Colorado River basin and in the Rio Grande, remain critically low following a generation of drought going back 20 to 25 years or more,” Rippey said.
And El Niño could lead to drier than normal conditions in parts of the Pacific Northwest.
“We’ll have to keep an eye on the Columbia River basin and some of the smaller waterways in the northwest for potential signs of developing drought or intensifying drought,” Rippey said.
Rod Bain reporting for the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC.
Listen to Rod Bain’s This Land Of Ours program here.
Images provided by: UGA Cooperative Extension
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.