NWS Little Rock, AR - Drought in 2012

Breaking it down, the drying out process started in northeast Arkansas in April. There was less than an inch of rain in some areas. Blytheville (Mississippi County) had 0.82 inch, with 0.97 inch at Greers Ferry Lake (Cleburne County) and 0.99 inch at Batesville Lock and Dam (Independence County). Soil moisture along the Mississippi River dropped below normal, and there was a growing concern about a developing drought.

That concern magnified in May as precipitation become more spotty. It was a record dry May in parts of western Arkansas. Gilbert (Searcy County) had no rain at all, with 0.01 inch at Ozark (Franklin County), 0.09 inch at Morrilton (Conway County) and 0.11 inch at Dardanelle (Yell County).

Not much changed in June. There was less than two inches of precipitation at most locales. Only 0.14 inch was tallied near Beedeville (Jackson County), with 0.23 inch just northeast of Damascus (Van Buren County) and 0.48 inch at the Clarksville Water Plant (Johnson County). It was the driest June on record at these sites. At the latter site, records date back to 1871!

Late in June, a ridge of high pressure (common summertime feature) built over much of the country. This resulted in record heat.

On the 28th, the mercury topped out at 109 degrees at Mountain Home (Baxter County), Russellville (Pope County) and Searcy (White County). All-time record high temperatures for June were set at Harrison (Boone County) and Little Rock (Pulaski County). It was 107 degrees at both places.

Interestingly, it was just about the hottest June afternoon ever a few days earlier (on the 25th), with several monthly heat records snapped. Those records were met or exceeded.

The heat continued in July. On the 20th, it was particularly hot in the Arkansas River Valley from Little Rock (Pulaski County) westward, and also in the Ouachita Mountains. There were many readings above 105 degrees. The temperature soared to 111 degrees at Little Rock (Pulaski County) on the 30th, the third highest reading ever recorded locally.

The average temperature in Arkansas during the first seven months of the year was 64.57 degrees. This was more than a degree higher than any other year on record. The last year with a reading over 63 degrees was 1925!

As of July 31st, a flash (rapidly developing and intense) drought affected much of the state with severe to exceptional drought conditions.

On July 11th, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) designated 69 of 75 Arkansas counties as disaster areas to help farmers recover from losses caused by the drought. That was bumped to 72 counties (all but Chicot, Desha and Drew Counties) by August 8th. Nationwide, the drought encompassed almost 1,500 counties in 33 states. This was more than half the country, making this the most far reaching drought since the mid 1950s.

A drought emergency was declared in Arkansas on August 3rd by Governor Mike Beebe. Hay was in short supply, and was expensive to buy. Many ranchers were forced to sell cattle early. The goal of the declaration was to make hay more readily available to ranchers whose feed supply was critically low.

According to a study by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, ranchers in Arkansas lost at least $128 million due to drought conditions from August, 2011 through July, 2012. The losses were mostly the result of a short supply of hay and rising hay costs. It became too expensive to feed cattle, and ranchers were forced to sell their cows.

At one time, 85% of pastures were in poor or very poor condition. This led to lackluster hay production and the smallest hay yields since the mid 1950s. While shipping hay from surrounding areas was an option, red fire ants complicated the process. Many hay growers in the southeast United States live in fire ant quarantined counties. Despite good intentions, hay could not be transported from a quarantined region to a non-quarantined region unless the hay was certified as fire ant free and stored properly (above ground).

While the cattle industry suffered, most crops survived the drought. Early planting due to a mild winter and ample supplemental water through irrigation led to good plant development and decent yields.

Area rivers and streams were at Top 5 record low levels in some cases. At Gravelly (Yell County), the level of 0.39 feet on July 26th broke the previous record of 0.70 feet set in September, 1939!

Livestock ponds and wells dried up as the ground water supply dwindled. In several counties, judges issued proclamations to allow local fire departments to fill the ponds with water for animals to drink. There were isolated reports of water rationing, such as in Hot Springs Village (Garland County), Maumelle (Pulaski County) and Tumbling Shoals (Cleburne County). At the latter location, water had not been rationed since 1998.

Wildfires became common as vegetation dried out. There were hundreds of fires in June and July, and more than 10,000 acres burned. Fortunately, there was not a lot of wind to fan the flames, and fires were mostly small. Due to the wildfire danger, numerous fireworks shows were cancelled on July 4th.