Drought Deepens in Western Oklahoma, Will Strong El Niño Arrive In Time to Save Spring Crops?

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:04]Welcome back to US Farm Report this weekend. Oklahoma State Climatologist Gary McManus joining us this weekend.

[00:00:10]Gary, the latest look at the US Drought Monitor, more than 80% of Oklahoma is in drought, but when you look at some of the most dire drought situation, did that actually get worse this week?

[00:00:20]Right. So, on the Drought Monitor, that D3 drought, which is the um extreme drought, uh that actually increased. So, we've been decreasing drought across the southeastern half of the state, up in the north central Oklahoma, while the northwestern half, including the Oklahoma Panhandle especially, has been getting worse. Not only has the drought been spreading across that area, but it's been intensifying. So, we decrease the amount of drought and that extreme drought across the southeastern half, but um unfortunately, we've replaced that with that extreme drought up in the Panhandle in northwest Oklahoma. So, it's a give-and-take, um but we did decrease uh the drought overall by about 5% since last week. So, it it was, I guess, in the overall picture a little bit of better news um for the state as a whole.

[00:01:10]Yeah, when you look at some of those dark red on the drought map, you really see where these winter wheat conditions are the worst. And we've been talking about that on the show just wheat prices fueled by the fact that there are some pretty poor wheat conditions across the country. So, now as we look at some of these spring-planted crops, there is hope that maybe once we see El Niño enter the picture that it will provide relief. Do you think that's the case?

[00:01:31]Will El Niño arrive in time to see some relief for the spring-planted crops?

[00:01:37]Well, unfortunately, um especially across that northwestern half, when we talk about El Niño La Niña, we're really talking about a cool season impact in Oklahoma. So, we're talking about mid-fall through about mid-spring. So, just about this time of year is when it starts to to fade away and those impacts start to fade for La Niña.

[00:01:55]Um when we see that El Niño being forecast pretty strongly, actually, um it's it's expected to form in the summer, but since there's no jet stream in the area to really influence, um that really starts to occur in the fall and in the winter. So, unfortunately, it it will be a let's say um um October uh through mid-April type of phenomenon uh here for the state of Oklahoma, if that El Niño does uh come to fruition. Gary McManus, state climatologist here in Oklahoma. Thank you so much for joining us this weekend, Gary.

[00:02:31]Every summer, Oklahoma's wheat fields deliver a familiar and iconic sight, but at Oklahoma State University, researchers are challenging what we think we know about that emblematic crop. Because beneath [music] those traditional amber waves, a very different kind of wheat is taking shape, and it could change the conversation [music] around both nutrition and farming in ways few ever expected.

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