The situation isn’t nearly as grave as it is farther south, but large portions of North Dakota still remain overly dry as the 2018 planting season approaches.
According to the latest U.S. drought monitor, almost 62% of North Dakota was in some form of drought as of March 13 (see map below) little changed from the past number of weeks but up sharply from mid-October when drought was impacting just over one-third of the state.
Like Western Canada, much of the U.S. northern Plains, including North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana was impacted by overly dry conditions throughout much of the 2017 growing season. The drought in North Dakota peaked in early August, when extreme to exceptional drought was affecting almost 45% of the entire state.
The same winter storm that brought heavy snow to parts of the southern Prairies earlier this month did impact portions of North Dakota as well, although the overall moisture benefit was relatively limited, and mostly on the eastern side of the state.
On the other hand, things have improved markedly in Montana, a major pulse and durum wheat production state. Abnormal dryness is now only impacting one-quarter of the state, with less than 12% considered to be in some form of drought. That compares to the end of December, when over 70% of Montana was rated abnormally dry and around 52% was in drought.
Meanwhile, drought remains firmly entrenched on the southern Plains, where winter wheat crops in the main production states of Kansas and Oklahoma are now coming out of dormancy into virtually no moisture. In fact, winter wheat crops are struggling to grow, even in irrigated fields, and many of those planted after early October rains never germinated at all.
Extreme drought currently covers a large swath across northeastern New Mexico, most of the Panhandle and adjacent areas in Texas, western Oklahoma, south-central and southwestern Kansas, and southeastern Colorado.