CHRIS MERRILL Star-Tribune environmental reporter | Posted: Thursday, April 24, 2008 12:00 am
LANDER - Most of Wyoming's mountain ranges stockpiled above-average snowpack this winter, but much of the rangeland east of the Continental Divide could still experience continued drought this summer, a National Weather Service official said Wednesday.
Although deep snowpack bodes well for the Cowboy State's reservoirs, rivers and streams, many of its meadows and prairie lands east of the Wind River Mountains will still be parched, unless they start to receive more spring and early summertime precipitation.
All major river basins across Wyoming have average to above-average water totals for October 2007 through March 2008, according to Jim Fahey, a water expert with the National Weather Service in Riverton.
But Lander, he said, is on pace for its second-driest April since scientists began recording here in 1919.
"For the most part, east of the divide, it's getting kind of dry for March and April in the basins and rangelands," Fahey said. "Here, in the Wind River Basin, the snow-water equivalent and precipitation in the northern part is fine, but Burris didn't get any precipitation last month, Shoshoni only got a trace, and Lander and Riverton are at less than 50 percent of normal this month."
Since April 1, Lander has received barely more than a tenth of an inch of precipitation, Fahey said.
"The next five weeks are crucial," he said. "But the Climate Prediction Center is predicting a 30 to 40 percent chance for below-normal precipitation May through July - right in the heart of the usual wet season."
One notable exception to the east-of-the-divide dry spell is the Rawlins area, Fahey said, which looks to have slightly above-average moisture and snowmelt this spring and early summer.
In the Lander region, cattle ranchers are expecting either a long-awaited reprieve from drought, or more of the same - depending upon where their summer ranges are.
Anjie McConnell, a Lander cattle rancher, runs cows in the South Pass area of the Wind River Range during the summer, which has been buried in deep snow for most of the winter. A relatively cool April has meant that much of that snow has remained unmelted, which should lead to more summertime forage for the cattle.
"I think it's doing as good as it's done in a lot of years," McConnell said. "The last few winters we would have been able to drive in (to the South Pass rangeland) any time. A lot is still covered in snow this year. The trick is going to be if we can prolong our spring runoff."
Tom Abernathy, a cattle rancher about 30 miles southeast of Lander, is looking at a different summer rangeland picture, one that has nothing to do with mountain snowpack.
Unless the prairie gets a good dose of moisture this spring, followed by another storm in the early summer, he might have to liquidate some of his livestock this year, Abernathy said.
"We did have adequate soil moisture, but the wind has blown out here for three weeks straight, and it's sucked up most of the moisture," Abernathy said. "We really need something wet to fall on the ground. Water in reservoirs and springs and riparian areas doesn't do us any good on the rangeland."
The 2008 winter has been the windiest one he has ever experienced, Abernathy said, and it has been especially relentless this month. Even though it has been cool, the snow that had been on the ground has been blown away, and most of it didn't make it into the soil, he said.
"I've checked with some old-timers out here, and this is the windiest winter they can recall, as well," he said.
In the summer Abernathy runs cattle near Beaver Rim and in the Green Mountain common allotment. He said while it's true that early spring precipitation is crucial for rangeland, he also believes May and June moisture plays just as important a role in producing healthy forage.
"Last year had a big storm the first of April and one the fifth of May, but it wasn't followed up with anything," he said. "Now this year we're not getting our April moisture."
The ground is so dry from so many years of drought that it will take more than average precipitation to make up for that deficit, he said. But he's not betting the farm it'll happen this year.
"Every year in Wyoming is a drought," Abernathy said.
Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.