Is another drought brewing in our future as Mother Nature turns up the heat?

...While parts of Texas received a number of good rains in December and again in mid-January, forecasters at the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center say continuing La Nina conditions across the equatorial Pacific and early signs the system may intensify by spring will cause dry and warmer days in the state for much of the late winter, lasting well into spring. Forecasters predict that increasing drought conditions across New Mexico and Texas, and below-average lake and reservoir levels, could result in dry fields and reduced irrigation resources during and after seeding takes place this spring. The threat of drought should not come as a surprise. Last week the Farm Bureau (FB) reported the latest drought monitor released by University of Nebraska indicated more than 60 percent of the continental U.S. is currently in a state of drought. About 27 percent was listed as abnormally dry and another 23 percent characterized as in moderate drought. The FB report draws a comparison of the drought monitors from January 2011 and the current month of January this year, concluding drier conditions exist now in some areas than it did in the early drought days of 2011. Forecasters say for most of the southern half of the country, warm and dry conditions will prevail well into the summer months. Livestock specialists are concerned a dry, hot year could counteract some industry growth experienced over the last year. Ranchers across Texas and the Southwest remember well the drought of 2011 and 2012 that caused extreme culling of herds and the liquidation of about a million head of cattle. Already, hay stocks are down with decreased Dec. 1 stocks reported in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas and New Mexico. Crop specialists are warning producers that it's important to assess forage supplies in advance and to develop management and marketing plans in the event drought conditions persist into the summer season. The National Weather Services' latest forecast update indicates a high probability of stable or slightly strengthening La Nina conditions expected through the spring and possibly into the summer season. But they caution that changing surface temperatures in Pacific water could change the forecast. The NWS Albuquerque office issued an update last week on New Mexico's water supply outlook for the spring season, and warned water resources may be short. Senior hydrologist Royce Fontenot, in Albuquerque, says the drought is currently expanding across New Mexico and other parts of the Southwest, and notes that a lighter than average snowpack will add to water resource concerns in the spring and summer season ahead...more