July heat produces ‘flash drought’ with more than half of North Dakota affected

“July was one of the warmest and driest on record, and so in turn we had some very rapid shift into dry conditions across the state,” Daryl Ritchison, state climatologist for North Dakota, said Thursday. 

The severe drought areas include a pocket in central North Dakota, much of the southwest corner and Cass, Traill and Steele counties in the east. 

Ritchison helps prepare weekly recommendations for changes in the U.S. Drought Monitor, and this week recommend the Sheridan County area in central North Dakota jump up two categories, from abnormally dry to severe drought. 

Miranda Meehan of North Dakota State University Extension helps facilitate reporting of pasture and crop conditions around the state. Unlike some years of prolonged dry weather, she said conditions have changed quickly this year, with several days of 100-plus degree heat in July. 

“This is almost like a flash drought,” Meehan said. “It was dry, but then with the heat, it just really intensified things.”

None of North Dakota is in the extreme or exceptional drought categories, which can be found in other areas of the western United States

Ritchison submits recommendations for which areas of the state fall into drought categories. He relies in part on a system called CMOR — Condition Monitoring Observations and Reports. People can submit photos, comments and anecdotal information through the nationwide system. 

There has been a spike in the number of comments submitted from North Dakota in the last week, with reports of lost crop yields, dried up watering holes for livestock and pastures that can’t be grazed. 

“Our alfalfa dried up, as we could not take a second cutting and our first cutting was only 40 bales compared to 60 last year,” Angie Johnson reported from northern Cass and southern Traill and Steele counties. “In many areas, the corn crop is completely fried and will have no yield. Soybeans and edible beans have aborted pods.”  

Ranchers are having to pull livestock off of pastures early, instead using what feed they may have on hand. Some producers are baling crops to use as livestock feed instead of trying to sell  poor quality grain at the elevator. 

Ed Kessel farms near Dickinson in western North Dakota. He said farmers bale crops every year in his area where more producers also have livestock to feed, but he is seeing more of it this year. He is concerned that his wheat crop yield will be down and that it won’t meet milling quality standards, which could mean a steep price discount when he sells. 

An annual mid-July wheat tour to estimate yields put the North Dakota crop at a respectable 48 bushels per acre. But Kessel said the prolonged hot and dry weather means the yields will not be as good as projected.

“The heat took a lot of bushels away from us,” Kessel said. 

NDSU Extension provides recommendations to producers for managing a drought. 

Meehan said producers need to be careful about alternative feed sources. She said some baled crops can be high in nitrates and can be potentially fatal to an animal or an unborn calf. Similarly, shrunken watering holes can have poor water quality and should be tested. 

Meehan encouraged people to keep submitting reports through CMOR to create an accurate drought picture. Some U.S. Department of Agriculture drought relief programs are triggered by an area being in a severe drought and the reports can be helpful when applying for federal disaster assistance. 

Ritchison said he tries to read every comment. “Citizen science can very much help,” he said.

Reach North Dakota Monitor deputy editor Jeff Beach at jbeach@northdakotamonitor.com

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