The Amarillo region has now gone 124 consecutive days without any measurable precipitation.
And,as The Amarillo Globe-News reports, the drought has left many a Randall County farmer dumbfounded. However, there are some silver linings to this rain-free cloud. The region is lucky that this dry spell is taking place over the winter rather than the summer. And, while the drought is growing dire, it’s not as bad as the hard-dirt days of 2011. During that dry spell, only seven inches of rain fell all year. Compare that with last year, when Randall County received 27 inches.
Even so, the soil is so dry in the Panhandle that many ranchers have pulled their cattle off their land, due to lack of grazing.
Randall County farmer Randy Darnell called the drought said the moisture from last year is still in the soil. “But,” he added, “we’re going to have to have some rainfall to get that top eight-to-10 inches wet.”