Irrigation water.

[Dave]

We got the water going down the main ditches over 2 weeks ago. But all my field ditches were in serious need of being plowed. I didn't plow any of them last year. Between cows marching across them, rocks rolling into them, and general sediment build up it would be a challenge to get water to flow down them. Normally I just go down to B's and pick up the plow. Take it back the next day. But his son took it up to a place he rents and left it there. B is a very busy man and especially this time of the year. He finally gets time to go and get it. It has a flat tire. Gets that fixed. He had a couple ditches to plow at his place. Didn't get 200 feet and blew a hydraulic hose. Of course that was on Sunday and every where to get a new hose is closed. So finally today he shows up and plows the ditches for me. Great I can start to irrigate. We just didn't get any rain in April. Things are dry. And just as he finishes it starts to rain. It is supposed to rain hard tonight, all day tomorrow, and into Monday morning..... but as soon as the rain stops I can irrigate.

 

[CowboyRam]

I'm still trying to get all my pipe out, and I have some cement ditches to clean up before I can call for water.

 

[1982vett]

Have to see how the rest of the year goes but we are about 2.5 inches ahead of average rainfall for the year. So far, hasn't been overly wet or dry. Had a 5 week dry spell from February to early March but that followed a wet January. Temperatures have been fairly moderate so that helps. April had 5 rain episodes for a total of 2.85 which is below average, but they were slow and long periods. Very little run off and the moisture has been well utilized. So far, so good.

 

[gman4691]

We got the water going down the main ditches over 2 weeks ago. But all my field ditches were in serious need of being plowed. I didn't plow any of them last year. Between cows marching across them, rocks rolling into them, and general sediment build up it would be a challenge to get water to flow down them. Normally I just go down to B's and pick up the plow. Take it back the next day. But his son took it up to a place he rents and left it there. B is a very busy man and especially this time of the year. He finally gets time to go and get it. It has a flat tire. Gets that fixed. He had a couple ditches to plow at his place. Didn't get 200 feet and blew a hydraulic hose. Of course that was on Sunday and every where to get a new hose is closed. So finally today he shows up and plows the ditches for me. Great I can start to irrigate. We just didn't get any rain in April. Things are dry. And just as he finishes it starts to rain. It is supposed to rain hard tonight, all day tomorrow, and into Monday morning..... but as soon as the rain stops I can irrigate.

No rain in April?! I just don't have a frame of reference for that. Folks around here (myself included) would think the world was ending…we usually get soaked anywhere from March through May.

 

[GoWyo]

I don't think we got more than 3/4" all of April. Should have had 2". Cheatgrass got to 2" tall and started throwing seed heads. Deeper rooted perennials have greened up, but are running out of gas in the shallower soils. The Drought Monitor has us as "normal", but our area should be in the "abnormally dry" category. Half an inch could really perk things up, but no relief in sight for the next week.

 

[Silver]

.6" in April here. Nothing in the long range forecast either.

 

[gman4691]

Makes me appreciate the excessive rain here over the last few weeks…typical for east Texas

 

[farmerjan]

We had 2 inches total, the first 3 days of April, after only 2 inches in March.... had .5 inch mid April... that was it.. Temps were in the 70's and 80's with constant wind most of the month so dried everything out. We have had sprinkles that didn't make barely a trace in the rain gauge... clouds seem to split and go north and south of here... Finally had .6 total from Fri/Sat... but about 4 miles up the road they had over 1 1/2 inches .... had some light showers and more off and on forecast for the next few days... We need it here... our area is just above the drought monitor area that is already in the "abnormally dry" condition....

 

[gman4691]

Dang…y'all need to pay preacher or take him casserole…or something

 

[Dave]

No rain in April?! I just don't have a frame of reference for that. Folks around here (myself included) would think the world was ending…we usually get soaked anywhere from March through May.

This is the high desert. We average about 12 inches of precipitation a year. The average for April is a little less than 1.5 inches. I don't know what we got over the last 3 days but I guess about half an inch. Living here you realize it is not always the amount of rain but the timing of it which is important. This little bit will sure help upper range land grass grow. The irrigated hay meadows will be fine as we have lots of irrigation water this year.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Still in a D2 severe drought according to the USDA map which is unheard of for April and May UP here. But when your average snowfall is 175" and you only get 47" during the winter you are headed for trouble.

 

[1982vett]

This is the high desert. We average about 12 inches of precipitation a year. The average for April is a little less than 1.5 inches. I don't know what we got over the last 3 days but I guess about half an inch. Living here you realize it is not always the amount of rain but the timing of it which is important. This little bit will sure help upper range land grass grow. The irrigated hay meadows will be fine as we have lots of irrigation water this year.

It's that way here also with 39 inches a year.

 

[greybeard]

I've seen years past, in E. Texas that rain did not come in the spring, including Apr and May.

In other news, after being turned in by the neighborhood water nazi last month, I can now wash vehicles in my driveway!!! Both the lake named after a house that can't move and the lake named after the mode of dress that keeps our pants up are somewhere between 99% and 100% full.

 

[Dave]

There was a lot of reservoirs built around here in the 30's to catch the run off from the winter snows. The one up stream in my river is medium small in size compared to others. It holds about 25,000 acre feet when full like it is now. There is still run off coming into the reservoir and he is releasing what ever is coming down. It will be mid June before he starts releasing stored water. Right now he is dumping 200 cfs. That works out to just under 200 acre inches an hour. So we are irrigating with extra water runoff.
The Owyhee reservoir (that is how they spelled and pronounced Hawaii back in the early 1800's) is by far the biggest. The dam was actually a test plot for methods used to build the Hoover dam. And it is reported that the head engineer went from the Owyhee to build the Grand Coulee. Interesting story how the Owyhee River and them the reservoir got its name but that is a different subject for another time.

 

[bird dog]

Both the lake named after a house that can't move and the lake named after the mode of dress that keeps our pants up are somewhere between 99% and 100% full.

Lakes Stillhouse Hollow & Belton for those of you that wonder what the heck he is talking about. Two lakes that are low for years at a time and are only get worse with the large influx of out of state'ers moving to the area. Good bass fishing in both though.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

There was a lot of reservoirs built around here in the 30's to catch the run off from the winter snows. The one up stream in my river is medium small in size compared to others. It holds about 25,000 acre feet when full like it is now. There is still run off coming into the reservoir and he is releasing what ever is coming down. It will be mid June before he starts releasing stored water. Right now he is dumping 200 cfs. That works out to just under 200 acre inches an hour. So we are irrigating with extra water runoff.
The Owyhee reservoir (that is how they spelled and pronounced Hawaii back in the early 1800's) is by far the biggest. The dam was actually a test plot for methods used to build the Hoover dam. And it is reported that the head engineer went from the Owyhee to build the Grand Coulee. Interesting story how the Owyhee River and them the reservoir got its name but that is a different subject for another time.

I always pronounced it wrong!!