05/11/05 Drought conditions unchanged

05/11/05 Drought conditions unchanged

Washington Ag May 11, 2005 The Department of Ecology said Tuesday that drought conditions in Washington are essentially unchanged according to the National Drought Mitigation Center. Conditions are most severe in south-central Washington, which is classified as being in extreme drought. Most of the rest of Eastern Washington remains classified as being in severe drought. State Agriculture Director Valoria Loveland recently saw first hand the steps some fruit growers in the Yakima Valley are taking because of the lack of irrigation water. Loveland: "In one of the orchards the producer showed us how he was sawing his trees in half in order to only provide half of the water to the tree to keep his orchard alive. That is dramatic. He will take no fruit at all. He is just trying to save his orchard." The latest weekly crop weather bulletin from the Agricultural Statistics Service said some of Washington's winter wheat crop was beginning to show the stress of lack of moisture and the portion of the crop rated good to excellent has fallen from 84 percent to 73 percent over the past week. But storms early this week brought some moisture with the National Weather Service reporting that in the 24-hour period from Monday morning to Tuesday morning over two inches of rain fell in Cheney. In Ritzville there was over an inch and a half. Odessa and Grand Coulee got 98/100s. Pullman received 41/100s during that period. I'm Bob Hoff.
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