California Deluge Not Expected to Provide Relief for US Winter Wheat Crops

Jan 03, 2023

The heavy precipitation that has brought flooding to northern California is not likely to result in any meaningful relief in the central US when the system begins to track eastward.

Although the system is expected to deliver sizable amounts of precipitation to several states, meteorologist Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc., said he doesn’t believe it will have much impact on the dry and drought-stricken areas of the central and southern Plains, including the No. 1 winter wheat production state of Kansas, as well as Oklahoma and Texas, two other large winter wheat producers.

“There will not be enough precipitation to counter the evaporative moisture losses that have occurred in the past and those that are coming,” he said.

The rain is being welcomed in drought-parched California, where the past three years have been the state's driest on record. However, more than two-thirds of the US Plains, including 85% of Kansas, remained in drought as of the end of December. The dryness has raised serious questions about the 2023 US winter wheat crop, which entered winter dormancy tied for the worst condition rating of the 21st century.

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