UNL professional shares climate outlook with producers

HOLDREGE, Neb. — Folks gathered in Holdrege on Tuesday for the South Central Water Conference. Producers and organization leaders joined to hear more on soil health, irrigation and an outlook on climate.

One thing farmers want to know is what the weather could be doing for the rest of the year and how will it affect their production.

Al Dutcher is the University of Nebraska’s associate state climatologist that focuses on weather trends across the world and how they could affect us here in Nebraska.

No matter the short-term weather changes, Dutcher said UNL is pushing folks to prepare for the long term with climate resistance.

“That’s what we’ve got to try to train people to start thinking in terms of how do I make myself self–sufficient? Meaning, how do I minimize the impact of climate on my daily operation, such that it doesn’t put me into bankruptcy,” said Dutcher.

Dutcher said some weather patterns flipped from last year to this year, mentioning the heaviest precipitation last spring was north of the 1–80 corridor, and this fall, south of that corridor.

“I wouldn’t be shocked if we go from mid-march to mid-April warmer than normal, cooler than normal May to mid-June and then the heat returns,” said Dutcher.

Irrigation Specialist, Curtis Scheele, said producers want to know what they might see during these growing months to plan for irrigation strategies, or even possible crop insurance purchases.

“The one thing I learned today from Al is potentially, depending on the jet streams and how those go, the potential hail south of I–80 could effect if they want hail insurance,” said Scheele.

While a weak El Niño pattern is expected to develop, Dutcher said if the heat content does not break by early summer, we could be looking at a multi–year event where patterns mimic the previous year but magnify the next year. That is something producers will have to look out for.

Courtesy: NTV