A Very Green Start of Summer

What a difference a year makes.  The bountiful precipitation and cool temperatures have resulted in a far greener Washington and Oregon east of the Cascade crest.

Let me show you.

Consider the visible satellite picture yesterday (see below)

2022

Now compare it to one year ago.

2021

The differences are substantial.   

Do you see how much greener southwest Washington and northeast Oregon are?   Pay particular attention to the eastern side of the Columbia Basin.

To show the difference even more clearly, let me zoom in on the southeast portion of Washington State.  A lot more fields are green--and many of these are wheat and barley farms.

2022


Although there has been a lot of talk of drought and problems for dryland farmers in eastern Washington, the truth is that things look good.  

But don't take my word for it.   Below are the statistics available from the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and taken by the Federal National Agricultural Statistics Service data collection as of June 19th.  The condition of spring wheat is 89% good or excellent, for barley 86%, and peas 88%.  Winter wheat that began during the dry winter is 71% good or excellent.

Winter wheat:
1% very poor
4% poor
24% fair
58% good
13% excellent

Spring wheat:
0% very poor
3% poor
8% fair
81% good
8% excellent

Barley:
0% very poor
1% poor
13% fair
77% good
9% excellent

Dry edible peas:
0% very poor
1% poor
11% fair
85% good
3% excellent

In short, dryland cops in eastern WA seem to be in good shape.   There are some crops that have been damaged/slowed by the cool/wet conditions such as cherries.

After we finish this mini heatwave tomorrow (Monday), expect normal conditions on both sides of the Cascades (see temperature forecasts for Seattle and Ephrata below).  Low to mid 70s will dominate western Washington.   Close to perfect.   And I might note there are NO significant fires anywhere in the Northwest.

Seattle Temperatures


Ephrata Temperatures


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