The Farmer's Forecast: Louisiana’s Drought Making a Comeback

By Nick Mikulas

Louisiana Farm Bureau News/Cenla Weather

Louisiana has received no rain in the last 7 days. I mean, it's possible there was a trace here or there, but as I look at the data over the last 7 days, I'm not seeing anything more than a couple drops. It looks like we have more dry time on the way, along with low relative humidity this weekend. That means high fire danger, especially on Saturday, and worsening drought conditions as we start to heat up.

After a brief pause in our drought expansion, things have started to worsen once again. 90% of Louisiana ranges from abnormally dry to extreme drought, with 15% of the state now in an extreme drought. While there is some hope on the horizon, most areas need a lot more than we are set to receive.

As I've said before, I'm not a farmer, so I don't want to say when rain is needed or isn't. I know the hydrology side of things, and the fire danger means we need rain, but I don't want to be the know it all saying that you need rain when you need 3 more days of dry weather to get work done in the field. It looks like low rain chances will return to Louisiana starting on Monday, but everything looks like it will be scattered, and not terribly organized. As we get toward next weekend, the chances for rain should continue to creep up, but we are running out of days where highs are below 90. From a drought standpoint, we definitely need to get more than what I'm seeing over the next 10 days. The Climate Prediction Center has above normal rainfall as the most likely outcome for April. I'll keep you posted on what that means as we get a bit closer. For now, it looks like at least some rain is on the way!