Drought once again a concern in Oklahoma

MANY a time in the past few years have we used these pages to register the births and deaths of droughts. With full awareness that words can do nothing to create (or stop) the rains, we note with sadness that dryer times are here again.

But not everywhere — and not in all the usual places. More than three-quarters of Oklahoma is marked on the U.S. Drought Monitor map with shades of drought. Lake Hefner, a critical source of Oklahoma City’s water is down 8 feet. Yet Canton Lake is full.

Not so long ago, Canton was the subject of a firestorm of criticism. The capital city exercised its right to take water from Canton. Western Oklahomans lamented the precipitous lowering of the lake’s levels.

Canton water flowed into Lake Hefner. Oklahoma City was ensured of adequate supply at least for a time. And then the rains came in record amounts. It was truly a case of too much of a good thing. Now the seesaw has returned to lowered side.

But not everywhere. Texas, which usually shares Oklahoma’s drought misery, is 92 percent droughtfree — compared with only 24 percent of Oklahoma. For months, the worst drought conditions have existed in the part of Oklahoma that’s usually the wettest — the far southeast.

What’s more, chronic drought conditions have largely disappeared from California, while drought has been building in the Southeast. So go the vicissitudes of the weather. Endless debates will continue on whether the weather of today reflects the activities of man or is but the latest entry in an age-old encyclopedia of meteorological variances.

Last year was the warmest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In Oklahoma, 2016 was the third-warmest year on record. The situation was exacerbated by an exceptionally warm autumn.

Yet parts of the nation have been experiencing record snowfall. Indeed, the Pacific Northwest and interior regions to the east were weary of winter well before Christmas.

The key phrase in the above statistics is “on record.” A hundred or so years of recording temperatures leads to a false belief (alternative facts?) that the recent heat is unprecedented. It’s not. This time-centric analysis needs to be tempered by the certainty that there have been times when it was hotter and also much, much colder.

Still, it remains incumbent on Oklahomans and their government servants to promote water conservation. We can’t say that the rains will return on schedule in the spring, but we can say that the state must be ready if they don’t.

Early spring, with its abundance of leftover dry vegetation (combined with high winds and low humidity), is a traditional season of wildfire. Central Oklahoma has already experienced large brush fires this year. Worsening of the drought means an increased threat from fires in the next 30-45 days.

We must be ready. All the usual caveats are appropriate here — don’t waste water, don’t burn brush in windy conditions, don’t throw out cigarette butts, remove red cedar trees. But it takes only one spark at the “right” time to conflate a greening woodland into a charred wasteland.

This is a time of year when we start worrying about the coming severe storm season. Now comes a new concern: that the storms won’t bring enough rain.