Washington, Oregon Pastures Continue To Dry Out

We are officially in the dog days of summer, which means dryer conditions not only across the west, but nationwide.

“43% of the nation's rangeland and pastures rated good to excellent," noted USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey.  "That is, down three points from last week. We are steady in the very poor, poor rating at 28%, no change from last week.”

Dry Conditions Continue To Spread To The Northwest

Rippey noted as in previous weeks, many of the driest pasture conditions are out here in the west.

“In that list of Western states where very-poor to port ratings are greater than the national value of 28%," Rippey said.  "That list includes Arizona, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, if we put them in alphabetical order, really want to focus a little bit on the Northwest where we have seen very dry conditions since late spring, kind of an early shutdown down of the western winter wet season in the Northwest.  And it has been dry as you would expect this time if you're heading into summer.” 

When it comes to Northwest numbers, 41% of Oregon’s pastures are rated very-poor to poor, while Washington has 35% of their pasturelands in that category.  Idaho is slightly better than the national average, which is why Rippey didn’t mention the Gem State.  Currently, 26% of Idaho’s pastures are rated very-poor to poor.

As has been much of the year, the strong pasture and rangeland conditions remain in the eastern half of the country.