Warmest February & Water Issues

Warmest February & Water Issues

Warmest February & Water Issues. I'm Greg Martin with today's Northwest Report.

You might have noticed that February was a bit warmer than usual and in fact according to the experts was the warmest February here in the northwest. Seattle had an average temp of 48.8 while Portland's average was 49.2. Boise broke their record by a whopping 1.7°. And this has been a year long trend of warmer than average months for the northwest. A look ahead at this weekends forecast might have you reaching for your shorts and t-shirts as temps are expected to be in the 70's in some areas. Looks like a good time to get that garden ready for spring planting.

One of the other issues with the weather here in the northwest and in fact all across the west has been the lack of water. Areas of Eastern Oregon and Western Idaho have been looking at how they can continue to produce crops in these dry condition. Michael Ladd, Region Manager for the Oregon Department of Water Resources.

LADD: Those that maybe relied on primary surface water are going to have to use groundwater supplies. That's a little more costly to pump and of course you've got a lot of folks that are away from water sources and rely on dry land wheat and stuff. Natural precipitation is going to be what they're going to rely on and the price is running pretty good for this year, we're in the 90 percentile. But to have a half-way decent year I think we're going to have to have some pretty good spring rains.

That's today's Northwest Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network of the West.

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