Several counties in Wyoming and its surrounding states will receive federal aid due to their dire need in a time of drought.
Wyoming, Montana and Colorado will be granted aid for the drought from the United States Department of Agriculture. Every county in Wyoming has been deemed eligible for aid and so have the majority of Colorado’s counties. Six counties just north of the Wyoming border are also eligible for aid, according to the Associated Press. However, it is unclear at this time how much aid each county will receive.
“About 100 percent of the state is in a drought right now,” Chris Nicholson director of Water Resources Data System said. “About 54 percent of the state is at a D3 level, which is an extreme drought and most of the eastern part of the state is at a D4, which is exceptional drought.”
The Palmer Drought Severity Index, which is used to predict how long a drought will last, list a D4 ranking as being between -4.0 and -4.9 and a D5 as being between a -5.0 or less in terms of dryness, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Some impacts could include crop losses for D4, which occurred in Fremont County when it suffered a 38 percent drop in its normal alfalfa crop from 2011. Fremont County is normally the top alfalfa producer in Wyoming, but it has now lost that spot due to the loss, the Associated Press reported.
Impacts that could be included in a D5 ranking could be shortages in water reservoirs and low water levels in wells, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Although Wyoming is not out of the clear for a drought yet, there has been some improvement during the snowstorms in the past two weeks that dropped about three feet of snow in southern and central Wyoming, the Associated Press reported.
However, even with the added moisture, it is difficult to tell if Wyoming will be out of the clear any time soon.
“Our soil moisture is low to begin with and we still have low levels of moisture,” Nicholson said. “In our three-month outlook, it looks like there might also be slightly above average warm temperatures as well.”
