NPPD gets bad news on weatherMar 18 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Tyler Ellyson / Columbus Telegram, Neb.
State Climatologist Al Dutcher delivered some gloomy news to officials from Nebraska Public Power District during a drought update last week. Although conditions have improved in parts of Nebraska following recent winter storms, Dutcher told the utility's board of directors it will be months before the state completely recovers from last year's drought. Most of Nebraska remains in an either an "extreme" or "exceptional" drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, which are the two worst classifications. Dutcher said an upgrade to "severe" drought conditions won't occur until stock ponds recover, something he doesn't expect to happen until after this year's harvest in eastern Nebraska and not until the fall of 2014 in western portions of the state. And it could take even longer, he said. Soil moisture levels are improving in parts of eastern Nebraska, according to Dutcher, but remain well below what's considered normal. Conditions are even worse in central, northern and western Nebraska, he said. "That means we're going to have to be very aggressively wet during the next six-week period or we're going to have some major problems coming down the road," said Dutcher. The climatologist estimates the driest portions of the state have a less than 20 percent chance of receiving enough moisture to make up the deficit by May 1. If soil moisture levels don't rebound prior to the growing season, Dutcher said a more extreme drought could set in this summer with hotter and drier conditions across much of the state. "That means more energy is going to be used," he told the NPPD Board. Irrigation accounts for about 7 percent of the utility's annual electricity sales and 20 percent of the billable peak usage, according to NPPD spokesman Mark Becker. Last summer, the district topped its previous all-time energy usage peak more than a dozen times and saw significant increases in energy sales driven primarily by the additional irrigation use. Although NPPD works with other public power entities to control the irrigation load during peak demand times, typically 3 to 8 p.m., all customers in parts of the state were asked to conserve energy last summer and the high usage overwhelmed transmission lines in north-central Nebraska. The district was also forced to run higher-cost plants or purchase more expensive power from outside the state to meet demands. The good news, according to Dutcher, is weather patterns heading into spring are much different than they were a year ago. Dutcher expects a good snowpack in Canada to keep conditions here cooler through April, which will prevent vegetation from breaking dormancy. Vegetation started growing much earlier than normal last year and sucked up some of the subsoil moisture before spring planting occurred. Dutcher said atmospheric conditions are also favorable for spring thunderstorms. Nebraska would benefit from additional precipitation in the Rocky Mountains, as well, since the snowpack there can fuel thunderstorms here. Spring run-off from the mountains also feeds some Nebraska river systems, including the Platte. The problem, Dutcher said, is the snowpack in Wyoming and northern Colorado is currently below normal and the dry soil there will limit the amount of water that flows into Nebraska. Without significant mountain snowfall over the next six weeks, Dutcher said water flows into the state could drop to around 50 percent of normal. "This is not a pretty situation," he said. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=27954757 |