Recent rains have many thinking the six-year drought in western Nebraska is over, and it may be–but maybe not, said a University of Nebraska–Lincoln specialist.
     "Although we've had well above normal rainfall in the Republican Basin of Nebraska, and we may be out of the drought there, until water levels are near normal for this time of year in McConaughy, I don't think we're out of the drought," said Jim Goeke, UNL's hydrogeologist at the West Central Research and Extension Center in North Platte.
     By the same token, people need to understand just how much rain we've had, he said.
     "We've been keeping precipitation records for 100 years at the Research and Extension Center, and the January to June precipitation already exceeds our annual average of 19.36 inches. So in the first six months, we're already ahead of what we would have had for the whole year, on the average," Goeke said.
     Precipitation from September through May, the winter wheat growing season, is 24.05, almost five inches more than our 100-year record of 19.07 inches.
     The corn crop's off to a good start, Goeke said, if it hasn't flooded out and washed away. That has happened in a lot of places. There's a lot of standing water. Fortunately, the reservoirs on the Republican River have been low enough that they can take in all this excess moisture and release it later, he said.
     Parts of the state have experienced flooding, but this may just be a mid-drought spike in precipitation, Goeke said. In 1935, right in the middle of the drought of the Thirties, the Republican River flooded, he said.
     "Before you think we're really out of the drought, you have to look at the history and realize this could just be a spike," Goeke said.
     The other thing water users in the Republican Basin will be thinking about is the compact with Kansas, which is pretty tough on Nebraskans in a water short year. The basin is approaching enough precipitation that this won't qualify as one of those water short years.
     And that would be a good thing for Nebraska. It remains to be seen, although we're in a lot better shape than we were this time last year, he said.