No easy way out of water woes

Oklahoma, like much of the country, is still suffering the effects of one of the longest dry spells in recent memory. But most people may not want to live through what it will take to return to normal moisture levels in the next few months.

Climatologists say at least 8 feet of snow (and more in some parts of the nation) would be required to return the soil to its pre-drought condition in time for spring planting.

Without a sudden infusion of moisture in the next few months, the nation’s farmers and ranchers face another tough year, as do countless citizens who have lived through recent wildfires, including here in Oklahoma.

But as David Pearson, a National Weather Service hydrologist in Nebraska, notes, the snowfall required to improve the situation is “an amount nobody would wish on their worst enemy.”