Expert pins hopes on El Niņo rain

Somebody should do something about this heat.

There's an old saying that demands, "If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen," but short of a mass exodus from Southwest Nebraska, there's little that can be done.

Since mid-May, residents of Southwest Nebraska have suffered from increased heat and a decrease in precipitation. With 28 days of temperatures of 100 degrees or more and a 7.67 inch deficit in precipitation in 2002, a 2.05 inch deficit in 2001, and a deficit of 3.18 inches in 2000, the area continues to suffer from drought.

But it isn't as bad as it has been -- yet. In 1936, McCook hit an all-time record of 37 days of temperatures topping out above the century mark on the thermometer, said Al Dutcher, state climatologist for the High Plains Regional Climate Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The area could be in for a turnaround, Dutcher said, if the El Niņo signals are correct. El Niņo refers to a periodic warming of an area of water in the South Pacific.

"With an El Niņo weather pattern, we generally see an increase in precipitation along the Pacific Coast and in the south, as far north as the Texas Panhandle associated with El Niņo. We'll just have to wait and see how much further north it gets," said Dutcher.

Dutcher explained that the rainy season is approaching which will alleviate some of the short-term conditions faced by the area, "But what we really need is water in Northeast Colorado, which fills the rivers for this area."

Early predictions are showing temperatures this winter to be above normal, which means, Dutcher said, the snows will be wetter which is good news for the area.

"We've got a significant problem in the ground soil," said Dutcher. The moisture that usually feeds underground streams which in turn feed the rivers is not there, he said.

"What we need is a whopper of a snow year," Dutcher said.