Drought Grips Northwest Arkansas
Dry weather hard on cattle, water supplies
Last updated Saturday, December 31, 2005 9:26 PM CST in Front
By Don Dailey
The Morning News
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ROGERS -- Harold Sargent has raised cattle in Northwest Arkansas for 40 years, and he can't remember it ever being drier than it is right now.
"It's just a dismal situation," he said. "It's the worst I've ever seen it."
Sargent, who owns Farmer's Livestock Auction in Springdale, has seen for the first time the bottoms of some creeks and ponds. Ranchers lacking the water to keep their cattle alive have sold their entire herds through his sale barn, he said.
The drought fueling deadly wildfires in Texas and Oklahoma last week has also hit most of Arkansas, prompting burn bans in 48 counties, creating drinking-water crises and making business tough for farmers.
Arkansas saw its driest December on record, and 2005 is expected to go down as one of the three driest years, according to the National Weather Service.
Preliminary measurements taken by the weather service at Drake Field in Fayetteville and Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill show yearly rainfall deficits of 15.29 inches and a 13.59 inches respectively. January 2005 was the last time the state ended a month with a rainfall surplus.
Al Hong, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service in Tulsa, said the drought is caused by a persistent weather pattern in which moisture that usually flows north into Arkansas from the Gulf of Mexico has instead gone to the east.
Cold fronts and other weather-making systems are finding the air over Arkansas to parched to create any substantial rain, Hong said.
Fire Danger
State forestry officials are concerned Arkansas could see similar fires to the ones that killed four people in Texas and Oklahoma. Large areas of grassland, high winds and low humidity make the southern plains a fertile ground of quick-moving, large wildfires.
Larry Nance, deputy state forester with the Arkansas Forestry Commission, said the state's vegetation types and humidity levels generally prevent large wildfires, but the drought has changed that. The duff-covered floors of Arkansas' woodlands generally hold enough moisture, even in the absence of rain, to prevent fires from burning as quick or as hot as a grassland fire. However, after a year with little rainfall, the leaves and tree limbs that normally trap and hold moisture are bone dry, Nance said.
As of Thursday, the state saw 256 wildfires last month, making it the busiest December for firefighters since 1989, according to Nance.
Those 256 fires had burned 3,834 acres.
Nance was looking warily at the forecast for this week, which is calling for warm temperatures, high winds and only slight chances for rain.
Washington, Benton, Carroll and Madison counties were under burn bans, meaning all outside burning is prohibited.
Low Water Levels
Probably the starkest evidence of the drought is the low water level in Beaver Lake, where vast stretches of shoreline are exposed and the upper lake resembles the river it once was.
The lake level was at 1,105.6 acre feet Friday, the lowest level since 1984 when it hit 1,106.4. The record low lake level is 1,092.9 acre feet in 1972.
Corps of Engineers ranger Rick Hightower said the lake is in no danger of drying up and will continue to provide hydropower and drinking water without interruption.
Fishing and other recreation shouldn't be affected, but some marinas are having difficulties with their coves going dry and many private boat docks sit on dry land, Hightower said.
Many obstructions such as boulders and tree tops that are normally far below the surface are near or above the waterline.
"Boaters have to be careful and know where they're going," Hightower said.
Other water bodies used for drinking water or recreation face more-dire circumstances.
The Buffalo River, one of the state's most popular spots for canoe floating trips, is at an historic low water level, the National Park Service has said, citing numbers from the U.S. Geological Survey. Some parts of the river are reported as completely dry.
Perryville in central Arkansas and Fort Smith are facing the possibility their water supplies will go dry.
Near Perryville, water was being pumped Friday from the Fourche River into Cedar Lake, the town's water supply.
Fort Smith has made plans to use water from the Arkansas River because its water supply, Lee Creek Reservoir, is at an all-time low.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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