No drought here: Newcastle on track to have one of its wettest years

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
Newcastle appears poised to have one of the wettest years in its history, according to Melissa Smith, a National Weather Service hydrologist in Rapid City. 
Along with record-setting precipitation, Newcastle is no longer categorized as being in drought conditions, unlike other parts of Weston County, according to Chris Nicholson, director of Water Resource Data Systems and the Wyoming State Climate Office, housed at the University of Wyoming. 
“Based on the National Weather Service COOP Station in Newcastle, you’ve received 22.26 inches of precipitation from Jan. 1 to Oct. 15, making it the third wettest since 1918 for that station,” Nicholson said. “The average for January to October is just a bit over 14 inches.” 
Smith agreed with Nicholson, reporting that, according to her data, the precipitation received in the Newcastle area this year currently ranks as the fifth-wettest year since 1906. She noted that Newcastle is only a few inches shy of beating the record for wettest year, set in 1996 with 24.34 inches of precipitation. 
“While the western portion of Weston County is experiencing D0 (abnormally dry) conditions (according to the U.S. Drought Monitor), Newcastle is completely out of drought,” Nicholson said. “And based on the Seasonal Drought Outlook map, it doesn’t appear that drought conditions will appear in the next several months.” 
Smith added that drought conditions next year depend on the winter and spring precipitation received in the area. She noted that the water year, which begins in October, will help determine the drought outlook for next year. 
Associate Professor Jacqueline Shinker, with the Department of Geography at the University of Wyoming, reported that this region, Wyoming and other parts of the interior Intermountain West, have a “high degree of variability in the amount of precipitation, both within the state (spatially) and across seasons and years (temporally).” She said that the northeast corner of Wyoming, in general, has similar precipitation seasonality as parts of the northern Great Plains, with a typical precipitation peak in the spring and a smaller one in the fall. 
So, according to both Smith and Nicholson, the area has experienced significant precipitation over the course of the year, but what does that mean for local ranchers, plant life and wildlife? 
Shinker indicated that the increased moisture would have a positive impact on plants and animals in the region. 
Tom Wright, a local rancher, told the News Letter Journal that the significant amount of precipitation received this year has helped out his operation in different ways. 
“The difference is this year that you don’t have to be so precise when you do your work,” Wright said. 
He explained that the increased moisture has helped with the grass growth at his ranch, allowing more flexibility and less urgency when rotating his cows for grazing. Wright noted that this is not the yearly standard for the area. 
According to Wright, the moisture makes life easier for him. He does not have to rotate his cattle’s grazing location as stringently as he does in average years. 
“Sixty percent more moisture than usual means 60 percent more grass than normal,” Wright said. “Two years ago you had to use the grass you had and had to make your water work.” 
Economically, the increased precipitation allows ranchers to use better “cash planning and better management,” Wright said. He explained that not only do people not have to haul as much water as in drought years but that an individual may not have to fix a pipeline right away if it’s not immediately needed. 
“It means someday you will have to fix it, but you can meld it into cash planning and general management instead of saying, ‘By golly, I have to get that done in the next 10 days,’” Wright said. 
He acknowledged that the biggest benefit for his operation is the amount of grass he can grow on his ranch. Wright noted that other operations may see a monetary gain because they do not have to purchase hay. Although he admitted that hay isn’t much cheaper this year than it has been in previous years, there is still hay in the area for sale. 
“If your cows have grass to get fat on, then you are not buying the same amount of hay and supplemental protein as last year or the year before,” Wright said. 
Wright explained that if a person raises crops there would be a direct correlation between the moisture and the amount of product they harvest in a year, although there is not a lot of crop growth in Weston County besides hay. 
“This year overall was a good year for family vacations. Whether I speak as a family man or ranch manager, things were just easier this year,” Wright said. 
As for wildlife, Joe Sandrini, wildlife biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, explained that the benefits to the wildlife will be seen more in the future than in the present. 
“The increased forage and moisture benefits the larger game animals more next year than this year,” Sandrini said. 
The positive impact of the increased moisture will be evident more next year with increased fawn survival, he said, noting that the body condition of the females going into breeding plays a role in the numbers. 
According to Sandrini, the increased moisture has provided a more ample food source for the local large-game wildlife, as well as provided more water sources for the animals. 
“Something of interest for hunters is that the big game animals are a little more spread out,” Sandrini said. “They stay within a half mile of a water source and with stock ponds full and the amount of forage in the area, the animals are not concentrated as much.” 
As for the small-game animals, Sandrini said that the residual cover left by the amount of forage that grew this year will help the animals by providing better coverage. He noted that the animals that breed in the summer should see an increase in population as a result of the extra cover.